Who Am I?

Who am I?
Am I only the conjunction of sperm and egg?
Is there more to me than merely a physical body?
Do I have a soul that will survive the death of my physical body?

These are questions I have asked all my life. The older and closer to death I get, the more important they become. I meditate on these questions, knowing that the answer I have come to must be accepted by faith alone. My physical brain or eyes cannot see beyond the fog that separates the material world from the spiritual realm. Once I accepted the immortality of my soul, other questions arose.

What is my reality?
Is my reality subjective or objective?
Are my thoughts the results of my brain's electricity?

I believe that my existence on earth, in the realm of matter, is confined to a time line between conception and death. I know that at death my body will begin to decompose. That the atoms and subatomic particles making up my body will lose their attraction for one another, and my body will return to dust. I believe that my soul will continue to exist in the spiritual world, where it will move closer to the Unknowable Divine Creator. Therefore, what is my reality?

“We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin1

I accept Mr. de Chardin's statement as true. The question that arises now, is my acceptance objective or subjective? I would like to say that my acceptance is objective. However, I know that my opinions and my beliefs are colored my past learning, discoveries, and personal experiences. Therefore, I cannot swear that my acceptance of this statement is either completely objective or completely subjective. What I can do is identify where my belief in my spiritual nature (soul) originates.

"Verily I say, the human soul is, in its essence, one of the signs of God, a mystery among His mysteries. It is one of the mighty signs of the Almighty, the harbinger that proclaimeth the reality of all the worlds of God. Within it lieth concealed that which the world is now utterly incapable of apprehending...."

"...Verily I say, the human soul is exalted above all egress and regress. It is still, and yet it soareth; it moveth, and yet it is still. It is, in itself, a testimony that beareth witness to the existence of a world that is contingent, as well as to the reality of a world that hath neither beginning nor end....."

Baha’u’llah2

By faith, I can answer the question "Who am I?" Here on Earth, I am a soul dwelling in a physical body. When the time comes for my physical body to die, my soul will ascend into the spiritual world. I do not know what my soul will look like once it ascends into Abha Paradise, what I do know is that it will be clothed (for lack of a better word) in the spiritual attributes I developed while my soul was in partnership with my physical body.

Author's Note: ▼

Word Count: 530
Prompt: Questions you might consider: Do you think, therefore you are? Do you feel that there is more to it - to you - than that? Is reality objective or subjective?
Written for "Philosophical Musings" . February 2020

Footnotes
1  https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/424657-we-are-not-physical-beings-having-a-spir...
2  Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, LXXXII : "Thou hast asked me concerning the..."