A name is a name. Our bodies are transient. The only things that escape ephemerality are the ethereal.
I am that I am. These were the famous words of YHVH, the God of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Indeed, many scholars translate “I am” as the literal name of G~D, the ineffable name. Even Bhudda espoused an essence within us that is our true identity, permanent despite the transience of corporeality. Could such an essence exist? Surely its importance is greater than the material world since it is both precedent and enduring.
I invite you to explore this issue with me from whatever lenses you’d like. My own background in neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and theology lend me their perspective from time to time, though I have concluded that these questions resolved only with introspection. Instead, I offer analogy, anecdote, and metaphor to cause you to question yourself. To cause you to ask yourself…