Bridging One’s Self
"A Round Trip Journey" "What makes us who we are? What is it that truly forms our essence?" This was the question that haunted my younger days, and to be honest, it still quietly troubles my heart today. Who are we, really? Who am I? What whispers these thoughts into my mind, and what invisible hand pushes me to do the things I do? Why did I walk down certain paths and not others? Back then, I hadn't yet met Descartes or heard his famous words: "I think, therefore I am." But even if I had, I doubt it would have quenched my thirst. I wasn't doubting whether I existed; I was agonizing over what that existence meant. Deep down, in a blurry, teenage way, I felt that I was merely the sum of my circumstances. The town where I was born, the faces I woke up to, the heavy events that fell upon my days—I felt they were steering my mind. Even though I felt this so deeply, Jean-Paul Sartre was a puzzle I couldn't solve. When he said, "Hell is oth...