Are you the same now
As you were then?
tempus fugauit, and a good thing too because we’re now in the world of the self. The question is whether the person you were last summer is the same person you are now.
Physically, no. I’m sure a whole bunch of me has been replaced by newer bunches of me, and some of me has gone, never to return again. There might also be some editions as the effects of being in my forties take their toll. Mentally, I have many new memories, and have forgotten or filed away all manner of other things. I’ve no doubt recalled memories from the archives. But unlike my physical being, my mind changes less rapidly, I think, because I still remain the same person I have been since whenever: a cynical, sarcastic old bastard.
That’s not to say that I can’t change mentally in a fairly short space of time to become and remain a person that I was not originally, but it would probably take some catastrophic event for that to happen. On the other hand, I expect that changes in my mood may be rapid, but within the span of my life, only ever brief. I’m not sad all the time nor happy. In fact, if I do have a typical mood, I might say that I’m indifferent, but in a kind of disinterested sense rather than a callous one.
But although when we examine ourselves we might conclude that we aren’t really the same person from one moment to the next, I would argue that we’re a sum of our parts to which we’re constantly adding, or from which constantly subtracting. Unfortunately, I fear there’s rather too much adding to my waistline these days.
Physically, no. I’m sure a whole bunch of me has been replaced by newer bunches of me, and some of me has gone, never to return again. There might also be some editions as the effects of being in my forties take their toll. Mentally, I have many new memories, and have forgotten or filed away all manner of other things. I’ve no doubt recalled memories from the archives. But unlike my physical being, my mind changes less rapidly, I think, because I still remain the same person I have been since whenever: a cynical, sarcastic old bastard.
That’s not to say that I can’t change mentally in a fairly short space of time to become and remain a person that I was not originally, but it would probably take some catastrophic event for that to happen. On the other hand, I expect that changes in my mood may be rapid, but within the span of my life, only ever brief. I’m not sad all the time nor happy. In fact, if I do have a typical mood, I might say that I’m indifferent, but in a kind of disinterested sense rather than a callous one.
But although when we examine ourselves we might conclude that we aren’t really the same person from one moment to the next, I would argue that we’re a sum of our parts to which we’re constantly adding, or from which constantly subtracting. Unfortunately, I fear there’s rather too much adding to my waistline these days.
It seems that we’re looking at the horror of twice as many half-wits in Split Brain Theatre. Bring pop corn.
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