Origo

BODY COUNTS

As of today, the war in Iraq has resulted in 125 American military casualties, an estimated 3,000 Iraqi soldiers killed, and perhaps 1,500 Iraqi civilians killed. Total: 4,625.

Here in the United States _secondary smoke from cigarettes_ kills 53,000 Americans every year.

Why aren't activists demonstrating in our streets against smoking in public?

Tomorrow Christians worldwide celebrate the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. What intrigues me today are the opposing interpretations made by the first witnesses, regarding the empty tomb of Jesus. According to the Christian scriptures (Gospel of Matthew), the soldiers guarding Christ’s body were terrified by the appearance of an angel who descended from heaven and opened the tomb, showing it to be empty. These soldiers went and reported their experience to the religious leaders of Jerusalem. The religious leaders apparently believed the soldiers (they did not punish them for failing to keep the tomb secure), and no doubt verified for themselves that the tomb was empty. However, while the disciples of Jesus proclaimed that He had indeed risen from the dead, the religious leaders chose to interpret the facts differently. They did not dispute that the tomb was empty, but initiated the rumor that the disciples of Jesus had stolen His body. The Christian Gospel does not say that they believed that the body had been stolen. They apparently believed the report of the guards, but chose to circulate the rumor of theft. Why?

A final thought on the matter of personal identity:

We discovered in our recent thought experiment that personal identity depends upon having a relationship with another person; no relationship, no identity. However, in our thought experiment we are human and mortal, just as we are in reality, and therefore we have a problem. If death terminates our relationships, and our identity depends upon those relationships, then our identity is only very temporary. If our identity winks out of existence when we die (or when everyone else does), then our so-called personal identity is really meaningless in the end. It appears that in order to have a meaningful personal identity, we must also have one or more relationships that perdure.

I have a friend who believes in God; he just doesn't believe that he believes in God. Though he rejects a theistic worldview, he thinks and acts in ways that imply a deity as the ultimate reference point.

Back to the matter of personal identity. Join me in a little thought experiment. Imagine for a moment that you are the only person in the universe. You are human and mortal, but there is no one else, no God, no angels, no other human beings. Now try to answer the question, “Who am I?” In a truly empty universe the question is unanswerable; it doesn’t even have meaning. In an empty universe you would have no identity even though all your qualities would be unique. Whatever wonderful traits you might possess would not matter at all, for there would be no one to be aware of them or to care about them one way or the other.

So let’s add one more person to our imaginary universe, another person, human and mortal like you. Now who are you? Assuming you are in proximity with that other person, you can now have an identity, and assuming you are not clones who look and think exactly alike, your identity can be personal. Depending upon your genders, you may become the other persons spouse, or you may remain just friends. You may become his master and he your slave, or vice versa. You can compare yourselves and discover that you are the studious one and she the athletic one, and so on. Any one of these relationships can answer your question, “Who am I?” You can now say, “I am that person’s best friend,” or whatever. The point is that identity depends upon relationship, even more than upon uniqueness. Without uniqueness our identity cannot be personal, but without relationship we can have no identity at all.

My brother Lynn phoned this morning from the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington, D.C. He choked up on the phone and said, “I’m glad I’m not lookin’ for your name. I love you so much.” That meant a lot to me today. I remember the draft lottery in late 1971 or early 1972 when I was listening for the number that would be assigned to my birthday, April 26th. It was a relief when my birthday was given a high number, in the two or three hundreds. Since the low numbers were drafted first, and the war was winding down, it meant I would never be called up. I’m grateful to have missed that war, but have deep respect for my friends that served in it.

Personal identity distinguishes each of us from the rest of the human race, and is the framework within which we are individually able to discover a sense of purpose and meaning. If we had no personal identity, there would be no "me," and whatever I was or did would have little or no meaning for there would be no "me" to take responsibility or credit for it. Though we usually take our personal identity for granted, we treasure it, and react strongly if it is threatened. However, we could not have a "personal" identity if we lacked personal uniqueness. Apart from uniqueness, our identity could only be corporate at best, for we would blend and disappear into a crowd of clones. Thankfully we all do possess unique qualities that make our identities personal.

Personal identity depends upon much more than uniqueness, however.

Terry, my tennis mentor, lets me serve till I get the ball in the box. Lately our tennis workouts are very spiritual experiences. For me they're all about service and love.

"We have to believe in free-will. We've got no choice." — Isaac Bashevis Singer. Quoted Times Diary, 21 Jun. 1982.

I'm intrigued by the way we humans worship free will. It seems to come down to the fact that we judge life to be meaningless without it. Like for Frank Sinatra, life ultimately has meaning because "I did it my way." However, is the binding of meaning to free will anything more than an arbitrary linkage?