Melons, oranges, pineapples and people Who are we? Who are you? Nobody knows, really. As humans we rely on our senses to accurately depict what we experience. We all seem to feel that everything that we perceive is an absolute truth. This is impossible. There is a disconnect, all that we touch, feel, see, hear, smell or eat needs to pass through our minds before we can understand what we ingest. Our understanding is informed by past experiences. An orange is round, and the colour of its name, we need to peel it before we can eat it, we remember how it tastes. Now we know it is an orange. This however is only because the Orange has presented us with the characteristics that make it an orange. Which we assimilate and organise subconsciously, allowing us to conclude that it is indeed an orange. Then there are people. We are all people. That much is obvious. However, we are all different people. How are we different? How do we know what makes us alternative to others? Initially there are physical characteristics; tall, short, brown, white, big, small, lumpy tight. Do these surface observations though have any effect on who we really are though? No, not really, not unless we let them. Then there are the internal characteristics. The words that we describe people with, in order to limit them, to judge them, to suppress them into our world of reference and understanding; dumb, smart, friendly, grumpy, enthusiastic, melancholic, magnanimous. But do you know who you are? Do you really know who you are? Would you limit yourself by words? Internally, intuitively, we all know that we are all of these, our interactions with this world are fluid and dependant on countless circumstances. The core of us is life. Unedited, unrestricted, whole and pure life. And that is an unnamable. Yet we do, we all do. Limit ourselves. Word ourselves. I'm this type of person, I fit into this box, this is how I interact, this is how I relate to others. Our self-images are so intricately constructed, it often becomes hard to see past them to the world outside, or behind them to the life within. The images allow us to judge, and make a puzzle of everyone, seeing which few pieces fit with our own and discarding the rest. If though, behind these images we are all just life, do we not all fit together though. What is even more disconcerting however, is that often we are completely incapable of constructing or altering our self-images. With the lack of a strong mind and some inward and outward searching, it is very easy is to let our friends, families, circumstances, and worries construct our self-image. We let ourselves be defined by the limiting words of others. How can that be you, really? Only if you let it be you. So ideally we will break all of these images and just be. Until then we need to become the people that we are and make our own, uninfluenced decisions about ourselves. Because as I said earlier, if an orange tells you it is an orange, you believe it is an orange. So if you walk like an orange, talk like an orange and look like and orange because you believe you are an orange, I will believe you are an orange. This is the most freeing idea I have ever come across. Initially you will feel like you have been lying to yourself, until you realise that you have been lied to. If people think you are a melon, and you think you are a pineapple; know you are a pineapple and the world will forget the melon.