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Whoooooo are we? Who who! Who who?

We often ponder the question “Who Am I?” But for the first time the larger question was posed to me:

If the question were asked by someone from outer space — WHO ARE WE? Who are we humans, we citizens of planet Earth?

The conversation was with my Canadian friend Helene Tremblay. Helene has spent decades to answer it; indeed, arriving at the answer and sharing it with others is her life’s work.  Through her books and speaking engagements, she shares her experiences living with typical families all over the world (116 countries so far!). She says on Human Space in an article titled Showing Humanity to Youmanity:

People come to life on our planet and die without knowing their own human story. People die not knowing where the earth was in the universe, not knowing where they were on the planet and with whom they had shared their time on earth From this fact, I gave myself the mission of presenting Humanity to Humanity.

I’m curious what you think. Who are we?

What measures will you use, what factors will you include as you mull over your answer? Family? Wealth? Language? Culture? Creativity? Destruction? Commonalities? Differences? Our reach? Our basest nature? Theology? Cosmology? Love ?War? Fear? Consciousness?

Here is a brief video of one of Helene’s presentations that may get your juices flowing.

This is part of my Answer me this series where I just wonder and invite you to do so with me.

 

 

18 Responses

  1. Hey Lori! I just wanted you to know that I read this and think you pose a very interesting question. I don’t have my answer for you yet, but figured I would let you know I was here, that I am pondering this and will be back. 🙂

  2. Do you ever watch/listen to Neil DeGrasse Tyson talk? There was one presentation I saw where he was speaking about aliens coming here, and how advanced they might be…and what that would mean. His thoughts were that they would be so far in advance of us that we would be beneath their notice. Like us and ants – we don’t go and ask them anything about their world. We pick ’em up, study ’em, and consider them a pest and try to eradicate them. It kind of blew my mind…

    I know – it’s not exactly answering your question, but I’m not a huge fan of humanity.

    1. I hadn’t heard of Tyson but will search for his talk.

      My initial reaction is that if they are so advanced, they would have more compassion than dismissiveness for a less-evolved set of beings.

      Fascinating train of thought…

  3. I believe to be human is comprised of four things:
    to be born
    to seek love
    to avoid pain
    to die

    Sounds sooo simple in that little list of four, eh? I would imagine that our alien visitors would have no trouble understanding our list…and maybe even have the same list. I bet that we are more alike than not.

  4. Oh, I’m enjoying reading your thoughts immensely. I should chime in, too.

    I love what Helene said in the video about the big bang of human consciousness. I also love what Sting called it (maybe someone before him) “we are spirits in a material world.”

    We are bits of Oneness finding our way back to Oneness via all the Dualities that we can conceive.

    That’s my answer today.

  5. You have literally just blown my little mind. It was like having someone open the door and remind you that the rest of the world exists while you’ve been microfocusing on this single small space. I am going to chew on this for a few hours and then come back to give a more coherent answer.

  6. You are so sweet with your comments! I HEART YOU!

    So of course I had to come back (now that it’s afternoon and I’m slightly more awake). Going to just start spewing, so forgive me if none of it makes sense:
    Who are we?
    I think we’re born a shell, but with a personality all our own. Our spirit is developed by training and some of it is God given. I think our destiny is pre-determined, but our path is ours to pave. We start out selfish, but learn how not to be by loving. We’re born with a sense of wanting more, some people are courageous and develop it and some people settle and enjoy the comforts of being. I think I’m full of contradiction, surprised? ha!

    1. I think humans are full of contradictions! That’s what makes humanity such an interesting mosaic. We run the full gamut of every spectrum you can conceive of.

  7. It is evolving because we are expanding, like every element of the universe. I would add it to Sting’s definition. “we are “expanding” spirits in a material world.”

    We have a body adapted to planet earth’s different temperatures. Living on earth requires to be strong physically. Our body like all life on earth gets old, has accidents, disease and dies. Like the stars. (Hubert Reeves says that we our star dust.)

    We are bits of Oneness finding (making?) our way (back?) to Oneness. Like the universe, we have an expanding consciousness.

    I will put some time in finding my words in all the different pathways that will be offered by this sharing suggestions and definitions. It is an expanding question.

    Good night,

  8. Okay, I am back.

    Before getting into the details of the questions you pose at the end of your post, I first have to share that from a very young age I have wondered about this very question.

    My dad and I started discussing it when I was in grade school and I once my friend and I got excused from another class after pondering it with one of our jr. high science teachers.

    Most of the time I go about my life and though I may consider who I am and what we all are from a sort of faith perspective and a make the best of what we have been given way of living, only now and then do I allow myself to think about the true bigger picture. As Mel commented, when I do it blows my mind.

    It actually kind of scares and overwhelms me to think about who/what we really are. I do have my faith and what I believe, but I truly don’t really know and won’t until I die or maybe something happens, like aliens visiting us (assuming they aren’t already here and we just don’t know it) or some kind of second coming of God (again, assuming s/he isn’t here among us in someway now).

    So to answer the questions at the end now… I think we are souls that are temporarily in bodies here on earth. I am not clear on all the ramifications of that. I believe that we can and should try to make the best of what life has given us and work hard to be the best we can be for ourselves, our offspring, our loved ones and the greater world. In terms of how to describe who we are to others, especially aliens, it makes me think about that movie Cocoon, ya know?! I just can’t imagine what I would do or say, but would not mind finding out and experiencing that in this lifetime.

    Alright, not sure how much sense what I have said here has made. But I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on this. Most of the time when thoughts of “who we are” and “why are we really here” come into my mind, I try to push them away, as it starts me spinning on “what ifs” and “whys” that don’t seem to do me a lot of good, unless I am just looking for a fun and thought-provoking discussion with my dad or someone else, like those late night conversations with friends in college to the wee hours of the morning. I hope to get to talk about stuff like this with you in person someday. As I do love pondering life and all this, even if it makes my mind spin and it is hard to wrap my brain around… 🙂

    1. You’ve prompted even more thoughts in me with this, Kathy. I also think of the movie “Contact” when you mention “Cocoon.”

      Big thoughts, indeed. I’m eager to wonder even more with you sometime.

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