In a world so overwhelmed with productivity and proactive perception of lives, many people fail to recognize the very fact of them existing in a specific moment in time. Awareness, which is commonly defined as “the knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists,” entirely loses its relevance in the face of a never-ending race to become the greatest (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, n.d.). However, few people realize that living one’s life with no inner intention and knowledge is a game with no winners in the end, as no one knows what the prize should be.
The rhetoric question of “who we are” has been pondered for centuries by some of human history’s greatest philosophers and theologists. For example, Immanuel Kant presented a philosophical model in which the consciousness of self was divided into two primary sources: the consciousness of oneself in the inner sense and through the acts of apperception (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2020). The latter stands for one’s ability to provide mental connections between the information already known and the knowledge new to the individual. Thus, people’s ability to combine emotional and rational perceptions in order to create tangible and reasonable thoughts is the phenomenon that makes people different from their less capable animal counterparts.
For many people who try their best to find themselves in life, the question of who they are frequently sounds terrifying and even condescending. They feel like they are to have an immediate response to this question in order to remain relevant in their community. However, it is vital that people understand that who they are is not limited to their current perception of surroundings and long-term objectives. On the contrary, the ability to answer this question tackles the recognition of one’s history, the history of one’s ancestors, and one’s position in the existing diachronic paradigm. For centuries, the representatives of ethnic minorities sacrificed themselves for the sake of the preservation of their historical heritage. Indeed, erasing one’s history will always remain an act of unprecedented cruelty, as it deprives people of the possibility to perform acts of apperception in regard to their genetic and ethnic code. Thus, it is of paramount importance to realize that the process of consciousness of self is not limited to the exact understanding of one’s role in the present context, as it encompasses the whole paradigm of one’s existence and cooperation with others.
The power of acknowledging one’s place in the world provides people with the gift of critical appraisal of the setting and surroundings. Consequently, people aware of their existence and history are entitled to the power of choosing their destiny and future without fear of being mistaken. Since Alexander Pope’s famous saying, “to err is human; to forgive, divine” (n.d.), people have become even more terrified of making a mistake in finding their vocation in life. Nowadays, the paradigm of social media and globalization promotes the image of an almighty productive person capable of choosing the right path. As a result, in an endless pursuit of unanimously right decisions, people lose their freedom to choose and make mistakes to create history. For this reason, it may be concluded that people’s consciousness of self is manifested through cognition and the power of choosing their fate, which allows humans to finally realize who they are.
The right to know who you are in a modern world replete with superficial judgments is a virtue and one of the most precious commodities. The history of humankind is never taught with the intention to pressure people with information and the never-ending flow of data. The history of humankind is the tool that allows people to discover the value of self-awareness through genetic and cultural codes in order to preserve their history and build a future regarding the previous experiences of generations.
The phenomenon of knowing oneself has also been a subject of a religious discussion, as people tend to dispute whether knowing oneself is a part of the human journey or they are entitled to learn their vocation from the word of God. However, the consensus reached in this dilemma is that people, while discovering their vocation through journey and choices, are always welcome to address God to repent and ask for a piece of advice.
Considering the aforementioned ponderings, it would be reasonable to conclude that the power to know who you are is indeed one of the most significant assets in terms of exercising one’s power. Over the course of human history, one of the first initiatives done in order to suppress a nation was to eliminate all the traces of national history. Without knowledge of the history of one’s existence, the individual becomes powerless and easy to manipulate. However, driven by the idea that knowledge is a weapon, people aware of their roots and their heritage are at the advantage of becoming greater and stronger than their predecessors. It leads to a conclusion that the freedom of being aware of the context in which you exist is the greatest tool in the hands of humans who tailor their future.
When working on a piece of discursive writing, it is vital to think of the experiences that would resonate with the potential reader through compassion and empathy. It is evident in the example of Henry Lawson, a notorious Australian writer, that rendering personal experience is more successful than any attempt to recreate flamboyant yet unrelated imagery. Thus, when collecting arguments in favor of the power of knowing who you are, it was imperative to tackle the issues people would relate to, and the problem of pressuring and deceptive social media was one of the first images that came to mind. As a result, it may be concluded that the example of Henry Lawson showed that exceptional writing is, in the vast majority of cases, a reflection of one’s feelings. The arguments in the aforementioned essay were chosen according to a similar principle.
As far as the Funeral Service of the Unknown Australian Soldier is concerned, the speech was used in order or define the verbal means that would resonate with the recipient on the emotive level. Hence, in order to intensify the speech, the authors used many personal pronouns and stylistic means such as refrain. Similar means were used in the aforementioned writing, including the intentional use of the personal pronoun “you” in order to bridge the gap between the addresser and the addressee. As a result, the writing was created to draw the reader’s attention in an empathetic manner instead of encouraging the recipient to conform to a message.
References
Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (n.d.). Awareness. Merriam-Webster.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2020). Kant’s view of the mind and consciousness of self.
To err is human, to forgive divine. (n.d.). Dictionary.