What makes you who you are?

Most people introduce themselves with their age, their job, or where they live. A lot of us believe that interests and opinions make us who they are, or how we relate to other people.

I think all of these answers have some merit, but it’s not really what I’m after in this question. What is the “stuff” of our identity? Is it our memories, our learning, or our beliefs? Like, if you were stripped down to only your consciousness, with no work/ school or everyday life… who would you be then? What kind of person would you be?

I swear I’m not high or anything. The other night I was coming home and it was a really starry night, so I pulled over on this hillside to look at the stars for a couple minutes. It’s very dark and quiet out in the country where I live, and I got a sudden sense of deja vu.

For some reason, it made me feel… old. Like, really old, as if my soul were a shirt that was faded from many washings. I don’t believe in reincarnation, but it was a spooky feeling. It was a feeling like maybe on some other night, seventy thousand years ago, I had stood on a hillside to look at the stars in the same way, and at the core I was still the same person. It made me wonder what kind of “stuff” my consciousness or character might be made of, or what all of our identities are made of.

Again, totally not high right now. Maybe I’m just in the mood for some rambly late night philosophical nonsense. :)