as a question of essence, who we are… leads us to the many
names we give to who we are… I am a democrat,
a liberal, a man, an atheist, a rationalist, a humanist,
each name here tells us something about me, about
my essence… who I am… that I exists is a given…
my existence is taken for granted when I am asked, who are you?
and the question of , Who am I, revolves around this question
of what values do I hold…
but forgotten is the simple fact that my existence is of limited time…
I shall exists only for a short time and then I shall not exist…
I am transitory, temporary, impermanent…
my existence is finite… and my essence is also finite… for
my essence depends upon my existence…
and once I am gone, people will say, hopefully, he was a good person,
he was a kind person, he was… he existed and in that existence,
his essence was kind or good or whatever people might say about me…
so in a sense, my essence will live beyond my existence because
people will comment about my essence, he was ________…
and those values which create my essence are descibed… kind,
good, honest, fair, loving… or whatever…
think about names from the past… Julius Caesar for example…
we say he was ruthless…and that is part of his essence, part of his
values…….he was a dictator… and to be a dictator means you accept
certain values…
if I am a doctor, it means I accept certain values of being a doctor…
the Hippocratic oath… I take an oath that I shall use treatment to help
the sick… but never with a view to injury and wrong doing…
Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so,
nor will I suggest such a course………I will help the sick and I will
abstain from intentional wrong-doing and harm……
the essence of being a doctor is to treat the sick and not to
injure or engage in wrong-doing to anyone…
the doctor exists but he has values, his essence is to help others…
was he born engaged in the practice of treating the sick
or not to injure or engage in wrong-doing to anyone?
no, he is born, he exists and then later, he
comes to his values, his essence………
so by choosing values, you choose your essence… who you are…
existence is already there, you need to choose what values
you shall live by, thus creating your essence…
Kropotkin