What Does It Mean To Be A Person?

People are interesting, because we have the body of a stupid animal and the spirit of a higher being. This makes us both finite and infinite. Our minds are what bridges these two contradictory aspects of our being, and our will is born from their coming together.

Our minds are finite in the sense that they take up a finite space and function as a result of their physical mechanics, but they are infinite in their imagination. A finite mind can somehow comprehend infinity. Our imagination, in a sense, can interact with infinity, allowing us to transcend our physical limitations.

We are very much able to fall into the traps of the world, but at any moment we are able to overcome these traps through our own will. An animal is ruled by its physical needs and desires, and therfore is controlled by them – nothing more than a slave to the physical world. But a person is able to recognize something greater than the physical present, and actively pursue it at the risk of their own safety and comfort. What appears foolish to an animal is seen as wise to a person.

I believe we are born animals, and become people as we mature and interact with reality. This is reflected in the development of our mind. The process of transforming from an animal to a person would be what we call “becoming self-aware.”

However, it seems like many of us forget what it means to be a person as we continue to age, or maybe try to reject the responsibility that accompanies being a person – something that is more than an animal. We lock away the part of our mind that lets us be a person. We once again become slaves to physical needs and desires.

[Post Essay Thoughts/Add-Ons]

• Empathy is a requirement to be considered a person. A being who is unable to experience empathy is lesser of a being, whether evolutionary or mentally. A being that rejects its gift of empathy is even less of a being than those unable to experience it.
• I don’t believe that personhood is limited to humans. Humans just have the greatest potential to become a person. I’ve met many “animals” that possesed more qualities of a person than some humans I’ve interacted with.
• Immortality is achieved when our will transcends our finite and physical bodies. It continues to have an impact on the physical world even when our physical bodies cease to exist. This is what it means to become a legend.
• Maybe it’s unfair to call our bodies “stupid animals.” They may not “think” in a way we consider intelligent, but they have a fundamental understanding of the natural laws that our minds never will. Our minds must learn how the physical reality works/behaves, but our bodies naturally experience and channel the physical world at its foundation.