ACTIVITY 2

Write 5 paragraphs of your personal insights about the given topic below.

“What Am I”

“I am a human being” is obviously the right answer. But given that humans are
complex beings, this answer is certainly insufficient. In literal sense, human beings are
organisms of high intellect labeled with the binomial name Homo sapiens. They are
characterized by their physical appearance— upright and standing with two feet flat on
the ground. Moreover, there are actually more to humans than just how they appear to
be— they are also entities who have the capacity to perceive and feel things. In
connection to this, since they are also capable of articulating speech and abstract
reasoning, they built a complex society guided by fundamental and philosophical
concepts, and they are still running it. I know this, because as mentioned, I am a
human being.

I am a physical being. What most eyes can see is a part of what I am. Apparently,
I am a body, or more accurately, I am my body. A lot of the parts that make up how my
body looks outside come in pair; reason for my being symmetrical. I have two eyes,
two ears, two arms, and two legs. Although I only have one nose and one set of lips, I
still look perfectly symmetrical. The inside of my body, past my skin and assembly of
muscles, is a red pool of more body organs. The more important ones include my brain,
my heart, lungs, kidneys, stomach, and bones. As they all have distinct functions,
without them, I won’t be able to keep living. Unfortunately, losing my organs, or at
least some of it, is actually possible as I am vulnerable to unfavorable things called
diseases. As a physical being, I can interact with the world around me, and gather
things such as experiences from it which I can process with my mind, making me more
than just a physical being.

I am a cognitive being. Inside my body, deep in my brain, is an abstract concept

called the mind. The mind, my mind is where another internal abstract concept in my
brain occur— cognition. Some of the things that make me a physical being help me in
being a cognitive being: I can see things using my eyes, I can hear things using my
ears, I can smell things using my nose, I can taste things using my tongue, and I can
touch and feel things using my skin. consider these things that I see, hear, smell, taste,
and/or feel as components that make up an experience which I can store in my
memory. However, I don’t just collect these things, I also think about them, learn from
them, remember them, analyze them, and solve them if necessary. Through cognition,
I gain knowledge essential to understanding just what and who am I exactly. In the

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process of understanding and by gaining knowledge, I have unlocked a different mind
state of mine— my emotion.

I am an emotional being. As an emotional being, I don’t just think, I think and

feel, and the role of emotions in my being affect how I behave entirely as a human.
With emotions, I gather experiences not only because I have to know things, but also
because I want to feel things. I want to experience success even though I will have to
fear defeat. I want to experience extremes even though I am vulnerable to feeling pain
and sadness. Through experiences like these, I just might learn how to handle my
weaknesses, or I just might become more aware of myself. Furthermore, I will have my
own set of values, which means I will know what’s good and what’s not, and I will also
sense what’s wrong and what’s right. Once I get to know myself and my feelings
enough, I will have the ability to get to know others as well hoping that my flaws can
make them see what’s special in me.

In short, a human being is what I am. Philosophically, I am mainly a physical,

cognitive, and an emotional being. Additionally, I am also a social being, a spiritual
being, a being with a purpose, a responsible being, a being with a life, and a being who
has faith in God. Now, the last answer to the question asking about what I really am
lies in the question itself— I am a being who is ever curious about the nature of my own
life, of values, of the mind, of knowledge, of reason, of God Himself, of existence, of
what’s beyond life, and of reality. I am a being who will never get tired of formulating
questions to keep me reflecting about what I know, and to keep me using it.