Alon, Arlane I.

When a person heard the question “Who am I?”, it seems like to generate a very complex

answers to people based on their very own perspective. Some people will respond directly in

describing themselves on what favors them on who they really are or what fits them the best.

They responded to this question thorough their information by where society they live in, the

place where they live in, and the institute of the education or the degree that they have. But

sometime, it makes us think and different questions suddenly pop out of our minds like “Why am

I here?”, “Does God exist?”, “What is my purpose in life?”. How many times have you asked

yourself with these questions? How many times have you asked about your own existence? For

me, I’ve asked these to myself a countless time. People also asked these questions to themselves.

I, myself have asked these questions when I started to doubting myself and everything, even my

own existence when something goes wrong or happened that I can’t take. In philosophy,

philosophers have their own point of view which is a specific attitude or manner on how they

think about something. These are some of the philosophers and they’re famous sayings. They are

Socrates, the one who say that “the worst thing that can happen to anyone is to live but die

inside”; Plato, who discussed that there are 3 components to the soul; St. Augustine, who follows

the view of Plato but adds Christianity and believes that man is of a bifurcated nature; St.

Thomas Aquinas, believes that the body of a human is similar to animals/objects, but what

makes them human is his essence; Rene Descartes known as the “Father of Modern Philosophy”,

he believes that “there is so much that we should doubt”, that the only thing one can’t doubt is

existence of the self. The “I think therefore I am” is from Rene Descartes that is his famous

saying and for him the body is a machine attached to the mind.; But for some unexpected

phenomenal, David Hume disagrees with all the other aforementioned philosophers because for
him it is just our senses and experiences, and that the self is just a bundle of impressions and

ideas. As one’s own self, we referred to with respect to complete individuality. Also, self refers

to a person’s experience as a single, unitary, autonomous being that is separate from other. Self

is important because it is a unique composition of each individual’s hereditary thoughts, and

sociocultural experiences. It is a tool that we use to interact in society and self is the center for

the creation and transformation of ideas and knowledge that enables innovation, progress, and

advancement in society. Our self is our sense of who we are, deep down – our identity. Even if

someone judge you by your appearance, by your status, by your level in the society etc. you

know to yourself that it is not true and don’t let it get into your mind because you, yourself is the

only one that knows who you really are. But, sometimes even if you know that it is not true and

that is not who you really are but when someone judges us or say something really offensive

about you, you can’t help it but to be hurt by it because your self is not an immortal soul or a

mere fiction, but a system of social, psychological, neural, and molecular mechanisms. Cultural

context has an impact to us on how we see ourselves shape our lives. The culture influences our

self-esteem. The self-perceptions influence among other things, how we think about the world,

our social relationships, health and lifestyle choices, community engagement, political actions,

and ultimately our own and other people’s well-being. Understanding our cultural identity

develops from birth that is shaped by values and attitudes prevalent at home and the surrounding,

noting that in its essence, relates our needs to belong. We need to feel accepted and “at home”

with a certain group or society. Self as a cognitive construct is the self-concept; it is a schema

that contains knowledge about us. It is primarily made up of physical characteristics, group

memberships, and traits. They have a big impact and influence in our mind, emotions, behavior

and we actually remember the information really well. According to William James, one of the
most influential philosophers of United States, the “Father of American Psychology” and one of

the earliest psychologists to study self, shows two aspects which are the “I” and the “ME”.

Which the “I” is the subject; it is a nominative pronoun meaning that is used as the subject of a

sentence, or as a predicate nominative; the thinking, acting and feeling self which refers to the

self that knows who he or she is. While the “ME” is the object, means that it serves as a direct or

indirect object to the verb or as the object of a preposition; also, the physical characteristics as

well as the psychological capabilities that make you who you are as you grow up and adapt to the

changes around your world, your schemas also change. It refers to describing the persons

personal experiences. There is self-aware in self as a cognitive construct. These are the important

things that we need to know which are self-awareness, physical appearance or sexuality

awareness, being aware of what we do or don’t need to buy, being aware about the cyber world

that is spreading and last but the least is on how we take care of ourselves. Self-awareness is the

ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or don't align with

your internal standards. If you're highly self-aware, you can objectively evaluate yourself,

manage your emotions, align your behavior with your values, and understand correctly how

others perceive you. People have different ways in forming their identity through these aspects;

experiences, determination and even following their parents’ footsteps in their own way. By

unpacking yourself, you can truly know who you really are as yourself, according to Charles

Horton Cooley “I am not who I think I am, I am not who you think I am, I am who I think you

think I am” while or after reading this quote, we easily doubt ourself and a lot of questions that

goes through our minds. Knowing yourself maybe hard but if you just truly accept who you

really are, there is nothing hard for you to do anything what you want. Here are some of the

terms that can help us to know ourselves; Physical Self Body by William James is an initial
source of sensation and necessary for the origin and maintenance or personality. Physical self is a

concrete dimension of a tangible aspect of a person that can be directly observed and examined.

These are the theories that can help us in unpacking ourselves, Psychosexual Theory of

Development (1) Sigmund Freud’s construction of self and personality makes the physical body

the core of human experience. Oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stage; (2) Erik Erikson, a

German-American Developmental Psychologist and Psychoanalyst, the role of the bodily organs

is especially important in the early developmental stages of a person’s life. Somatic Society

Bryan Turner, sociology of the body (discipline 1990's) new found importance of the body in

contemporary society.; (1) Physical and sexual self like for example biological, and physical self;

(2) Adolescent stage like environmental conditioning like family planning, parenting; Sexual self

like there is a peak of sexual curiosity. The material self, according to William James, pertains to

the objects, places, or even people which have the label “mine”. Such possessions are viewed as

extensions of individuals' identities. For instance, your clothes reflect certain aspects of your

personality and you designate them as “my wardrobe”. A material self is made up of everything

that a person owns like his or her car, house, clothes, even her family and friends. For example, I

owned gadgets, shoes, and clothes, all of these will be a contribution to my material self. The

material Self is constituted by: our bodies, clothes, immediate family, and home. It is it to these

things, according to James, that we are the most deeply affected by because of our investments of

self within these things. The more we invest ourselves in these objects, the more attached to them

we inevitably are to them. There are 5 Major religions in the world, these are the Christianity,

Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. These religions are always in the list, also known as

the “Big Five”. According to Viktor Frank, the meaning of life lies in finding a purpose and

taking a responsibility for ourselves and other human beings. By feeling free and being sure of
the objective that encourage and motivate us, we will be able to make the world a better place.

There 3 ways in discovering our meaning in life; LOVE, WORK, and SUFFERING. After being

colonized by the Spaniards for over three centuries, the Philippines culture, beliefs, language,

and religion is both a combination of Filipino traditions and Spanish traditions. But Filipinos still

developed an identity of their own. The Filipinos are family-oriented people and often religious

with an appreciation for art, fashion, music, and food. Customs reflect people’s faith, the oneness

with others, the affinity with nature and their celebrations of life. It is one of the traits that is at

the core of the Filipino soul which is the Pakikipag-kapwa (fellowship). Also, one of the unique

traits of the Filipinos is having a Close Family Ties. It is one of the most outstanding cultural

values that we, Filipinos have. When we heard the word family, it always comes to our minds

that family takes care of each other, will always be there to support and guide us, and taught us

to always be respectful to elders by obeying them. Being a very family-oriented is one of the

unique characteristics of Filipinos and made people have relaxed stance. Now, people want

something new that can help them for everyday life, like gadgets. Our parents are our first

teacher because they are the ones’ who taught us the values and attitudes that helps us to

successfully complete the developmental tasks throughout our childhood. They help us to hone

our skills and guiding us in the path that will make us become successful to reach our dreams.

When using technology like phones, laptop, computer, and tablet, children can increase their

intelligence about many things. They learn to know a lot of pictures, writing and various colors,

just like our new normal because of the pandemic, online classes and modules are the only

options of the schools for the students to continue their study without going to school because of

the social distancing, to slow down the spread of the virus and also for the safety of the students,

teachers, and other staffs. In some occasion, depression can lead the people to internet or
technology addiction. For some people, spending time in browsing the internet make them forget

their problem briefly but spending too much time in using internet and technology to steer clear

of the problems may turn them into technology addicts. Another way to avoid this kind of

situation is to minimize the use of gadgets and start spending more time with your family and

cherish it. For example, going to a park, to a playground, a mall and going to church every

Sunday. Considering our situation right now, we are in the middle of a pandemic and we are all

staying at home, just enjoy the moments and life with our family and friends. In sturdy times, the

best way to overcome the hardships we are facing is to lean on to our loved ones which is our

family and friends, stay in connection with them through social media, phone calls and texts.

This pandemic, taught us that we should not take everything for granted and we should start

appreciating and cherishing things even if it a small or large one.