So for this assignment in my social psychology class I had to write 5 “I am” statements describing myself. My answers were:

I am lazy

I am a lover not a fighter

I am not my ego

I am not a perfect snowflake

I am you, and you are I

For the assignment, we had to write about how we came to these conclusions about ourselves.

The first two are just obvious traits, but the last three had a little more meaning to me:

“I am not my ego”. This idea actually surfaced quite recently, after watching the movie Revolver. The movie is about a man that battles with his ego and recognizes that his ego was controlling him and his actions. The quote in the movie puts it best,  “The greatest con that he ever pulled was making you believe that he is you” (“he” referring to the ego). In the movie, it is revealed to us that the ego is what feels victimized and self-conscious. It is the ego that makes enemies and sets oneself apart from others. The ego is an approval junkie that makes us all believe that we need validation from others to feel any worth. Reminding myself that I am not my ego helps me to recognize when I am being driven by it and helps me to become more aware of the motives behind my actions.

“I am not a perfect snowflake”. This statement refers to the movie Fight Club, which will forever be my favorite movie of all time. In the movie this line is used with a slightly cynical overtone, but the overall message of it is really inspiring. The idea is that people are too egotistical, narcissistic, and self-absorbed and this line is used as a slap in the face to tell us that every individual is not perfect. It is basically used to tell people to get over themselves. Believing that you are perfect means that there is nothing about you that needs to change, that there is nothing about you that should change. If a person believes that they are perfect in every way, this stagnates their growth as a person. As the saying goes, “the only thing constant in the universe is change”. This is why I say that I am not a perfect snowflake. Because it helps me to realize that there is always something about myself that I can better. There is infinite potential in every direction; it is just a matter of me choosing which direction to take.

The statement “I am you, and you are I”, could be confusing at first. I came to this conclusion about myself through a lot of introspection. Constantly thinking of oneself in relation to others can cause one to get wrapped up in his ego. It can cause a person to refer to himself as being separate from everyone else. “I am me, you are you.” It sets oneself apart from the rest whether it is in higher or lower regard. It is said that the self cannot be found through introspection, looking inward, but I think this is because through introspection you will find that there is no real separation. You will find that there is no separate “I” in relation to others, because in actuality, your perception of others is just a projection of yourself and your own ideas and beliefs about the world. Everything and everyone that you experience, good and bad, is a part of your own perception of it. You can perceive a situation or person to be good or bad, and that is your inner reality. What most people don’t realize is that just by changing that perception, you change your reality. When you find something in someone else that you dislike, at the root of it all, it is really something about yourself that you dislike and you are projecting that hate externally. As Hermann Hesse once said, “If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself.” When you come to terms with that aspect of yourself that you hate, you will find that that flows outward into the world around you. You no longer find yourself hating those things in other people and you are more accepting of people you once weren’t. The statement “I am you, and you are I” isn’t so much of a statement about myself, but a philosophy that I try to live by and it really helps me to grow into a better person.

The assignment then asks:
Is there anything in your statements that might be based on an illusion or self presentation tactics and how?

I think that almost all the above statements are self-presentation tactics in a way, except maybe that “I am lazy”. However, they are not self-presentation tactics in that I am trying to present myself in a certain way to others, but more that I am making these statements to present myself in a certain way to myself, with the intention of growing in that way.

I hope I get an A. At the most, I hope that my teacher goes “hm…” :]