The Theory of the Self:

Infinite Line of Experiences in Life

Theory of the Self. This is the perception of an individual about his or herself, on how he
or she exist in this world. What is self? Is this limited only to our physical body? to our soul? Or
is it related to all aspects of our life?
Every one of us seek for an answer about the real meaning of our life, what are our
purpose in this world and most of us are confused about who we really are, that's why we
search for an answer for us to have a better understanding about the self.
From the very beginning of our life in this world until in our present days, we have
experienced a lot of things that helps us understand the true meaning of life and the importance
of it. We have an experienced when we are in our childhoods days, those running and playing
under the rain, an unforgettable moment during elementary days wherein we meet our first
crush and experience the feeling of being inspired by someone to do all things in an excellent
way, and most of all the happiest and saddest part of our life which we experienced during our
high school days when we fall in love and meet our first love then at the same time, the first
broke up moments. Those experiences are the main thing that helps us discover and determine
ourselves, it molds our wholeness as a person and helps us find out who we really are.
There are different ways for us to know who we really are and who the self really is.
First, we might discover it all by ourselves. A good example of this is the process of maturity
wherein we have encountered a lot of changes in our physical appearance and personalities.
We grow and most of our body parts develop until we became a young men and women that
has a deeper understanding about self. Lastly, we can understand who we really are with the
help of other people which we mostly encountered in our daily activities. Since we are a political
animal according to Aristotle, we are all exist to co-exist. In that way, we will have encountered
a lot of people and learned a lot on their life experiences and ideas. We might face all of this
experiences in a way that is full of challenges, regrets and sorrow, or it may be in a joyful,
relaxing and enlightening experience. But the most important thing in this is that we learned a lot
from it, from our mistakes, from all the good things happened in our life and most of all, from the
experiences we have gathered in life.
As we finished the discussion about all theories regarding the self, starting from asking
the question "who am I?" Until we encountered the different philosophers and their theories. The
Cogito ergo sum of Rene Descartes which means I think therefore I am, through the presence
of mind in a way that we are doubting so much in a lot of things we encountered but we never
doubt of our self that we are doubting. Also, the Tabula Rasa of John Locke that tell us we came
from nothing such like a blank slate but because of a bundle of experience we became what we
want which is the self. Those ideas are only some of the theories from the different philosophers
we tackled but those are the theories which I agreed so much, it made me think more about
myself and made me more interested knowing who really my self is. Furthermore, we also talk
about the different things that affects the self. For me, the first thing that affects ourselves for
being the self are the technologies, we think that the self doesn't really exist because we are so
dependent in technologies and the self are controlled by it but the self does exist and it is in
terms of the technology itself. Also, the people surrounds us because of modernization, all we
have in our mind is to be updated or on in all things happening and occurring in this world that
makes the self not free to express its true self. Lastly, the self is affected of ourselves itself
which affects the development of the self, because of our identities, attitudes and physical
appearance we think of something negative about those aspects of our self which make our
confidence lessen and not able to do what we want, to express what we like too and to be what
we want.
Based on my own perception about the theory of self, the “self” is unending,
unmeasurable, and infinite tome of knowledge that doesn’t fade. Even if we are aging,
knowledge can still be learned. Nowadays, knowledge is measured always based on what you
achieved academically but for me, knowledge can be learned through a lot of things.
Experience, learning hands-on, and more. It made me realized of something about the “self”
and conclude for my own theory of self which is an “Infinite Line of Experiences in Life”.
For me, the theory of the self is a continuous process, it is an infinite line of experience in life
that undergoes different stages. Like a line we all know that it's started only from a period then
as time goes by a new series of periods will occur or appear that will create and connect in the
real “self” or the first period and form the wholeness of a line. Now we relate this in our self, like
us, our “self” started when we are in the "uterus" of our parents since we are considered as a
person even if we are only a fetus, then the self continuously develop as we face the world. As
time passed, our “self” encountered a lot of difficulties in life with the relatives, love ones,
friends, family and significant others. Those persons serve as the periods that makes the line or
the “self” expands or become more longer and stronger until it slowly fulfills the self and the rest
of periods that will follows to connect on the line was symbolizes the experiences we will be
experiencing in our future life. Since we don’t really know if our life has an ending because of
the idea of reincarnation or we don’t even know when this would end if it has ending, like a line
we really don't know how it ends.
The blend of knowledge and handy experience is a significant advantage for your expert
life, as it makes you a gifted individual to complete your assignment effectively. Both learning
and experience are firmly identified with one another. In the sense, without learning you may not
increase handy experience and without down to earth understanding, your insight and ideas
can't be reinforced. It must be noted that having knowledge is indicative of having information,
but in order to develop the expertise in a particular field, one has to go for doing things
practically, this is where experience will kick in. Relating to the theory of the self, with the
knowledge and experience in life we can finally think deeply about the self, about who our “self”
really is. We have the power to understand well the self and to seek for an answer about the
self.
Each day throughout life people learn more about themselves and about the world
around them. It is everyone’s goal to acquire as much knowledge as they can because it
generally leads to satisfaction in their life. Experience allows us to better understand oneself
and the surrounding world. Experience and wisdom are connected with each other because
knowledge is the thing that we adapt when we do something and what we experienced on that
particular thing. Knowledge is acquired through experience right? At least, that’s how I assume
it’s acquired. I also find that with experience, wisdom comes. You can be wise about a certain
thing if you have experience it. Therefore, you can have wisdom with experience, which comes
from having knowledge.
Death? They say that knowledge disappears through death but according to the theory
of Socrates which is the concept of “Dualism” all of us has a body and soul that is attached
together that when a body dies, the soul remains. Knowledge is a form that even our physical
form is gone, our soul will carry on and still be intact with the knowledge that we have learned
through our life time.
Knowledge and experience will always go together whether you like it or not. Experience
is gained with knowledge and knowledge is gained through experience. Having all the
knowledge and experiences helps us unlock a very special parts of the world it was the true
meaning of the “Self”. This is only a step by step process which helps ourselves to improve and
become better for our future.