Do you know who you are?
—Keaton Henson, “You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are”
The phrase “who you are” could refer to multiple things. For some people, it might refer to their conscious awareness. For others, it might refer to their self-image or perhaps to their personality. Still others might conceive of “who they are” as referring to their personal reputation among their family or their community. “Who you are” can be many things, and I encourage you to think of it as all these things and more. In this book, we will go on a journey through an ever-expanding definition of the physical material that makes up “who you are.” Like a Venn diagram that starts out small, as a circle that contains the stuff that makes you you, initially it might contain only a particular region of your brain. Then, as we progress through the chapters, that circle cannot help but expand to include your whole brain, then your whole body, then more and more. For any learning exercise, starting out small is good.
Many people operate under an unspoken assumption that “who they really are” is something deep inside them. We develop this impression, in part, because sometimes we have to put on a “social mask” that is somewhat different from how we really feel or how we really want to behave. A popular metaphor here is that of peeling an onion. Each surface that looks as if it might be who you are can actually be peeled away to reveal a more “core” version of who you are, and it, too, can be peeled away to reveal something even more central. If you start with that assumed sense of who you are, something deep inside, then the chapters in this book are actually designed to reverse that curious metaphor incrementally. By carefully analyzing the content and makeup of each of those layers, we will in fact see that they are all part of who you are. After all, if that social mask were not part of who you are, then you wouldn’t be able to use it so effortlessly, would you? And, believe it or not, there are quite a few more layers to your onion than you might think.
Knowing who you are, and embracing all those layers, is important because an inaccurate conception of who you are can lead to decisions and actions that hinder or harm you. Imagine that an onion somehow thought that only its inner bulb was “who it was.” Then it might neglect its outer layers, not feeding those cells as it grew. What a sick and sad onion that would be! When you know in your heart that something outside your body is actually “part of you,” such as a child, a pet, or even a favorite book, you take good care of that something because by doing so you are taking care of your self. If you take good care of all those different parts of your expanded self, then you will live a better and longer life.
This book is specifically designed to shake up those narrow assumptions about who you are, what stuff makes you you. It does not do it with poetic pronouncements that sound, on their own, like they might be true, although there might be a few flowery turns of phrase here and there. It does not do it with philosophical “thought experiments” that pump your intuitions up out of the ground like subterranean water, although you will encounter a couple of those. The primary tool of persuasion in this book is scientific study. Science is the best method by which we humans have been able to determine reliable facts about how this world works. So many other methods have relied too much on poetry and intuition, and have a bad habit of making failed predictions or being proven wrong in other ways—usually by science. But you do not have to be a scientist to enjoy what is being delivered in this book. The scientific studies are described in just enough detail for you to understand and trust the results that were obtained, and if you want to look up and read the actual scientific studies that I describe here, each chapter subheading has its own section in the Notes at the end of the book, with some more in-depth discussion and lots of references.
Here is what this book has in store for you. As each chapter moves along, it will stretch and expand one particular definition of who you are, or what the self is. Each chapter’s minor stretching or expansion is designed to be small and gentle enough that it should not be too painful, mind-boggling, or unbelievable. Chapter 1 is designed to help you let go of your biases and assumptions about who you are, so you can approach the chapters that follow with an open mind. As you work your way from chapter 2 to chapter 3 to chapter 4, the examples of scientific experiments will give you compelling evidence for expanding your definition of your mind to include all your brain and all your body. If that sounds obvious to you right now, then you are exactly the kind of person who should be reading this book. As you work your way from chapter 5 to chapter 6, you will encounter powerful scientific evidence for treating the tools and people in your environment as additional parts of who you are. If that sounds ridiculous to you right now, then you are exactly the kind of person who should be reading this book. You just might find yourself convinced to change your mind about what your mind is. Then, if you make it agreeably through chapters 7 and 8—and, to be honest, many readers will have objections there—you will see scientific evidence for nonhuman life and even nonliving matter being intelligent like you and even part of you. You do not have to accept the claims being made in chapters 7 and 8, but you will find it worthwhile to peruse the scientific evidence. Let the evidence wash over you like a light rain. Put away your mental umbrella. Some of that rain will soak right into you, and some might bead up and slide right off. Then, when you move on to chapter 9, the final chapter, you can see whether my summary will help you tie it all up and put a bow on what you’ve learned. That is what this book has in store for you.
I certainly do not expect every reader to come along with me happily all the way through all eight chapters of mind-boggling scientific findings, but I do expect you to give those scientific findings a fair shot at figuratively “expanding your mind” and literally expanding your definition of who you are. That’s why you cracked open this book in the first place. Irrespective of how far you follow along with me in this book, my hope is that I can pull you along further than you would have gone while relying solely on your intuitions. Importantly, each chapter will not only get you to learn something new but also get you to do something new with that fresh knowledge. At the end of each chapter is a “directions for use” section, aimed at having you try out some of your newly acquired wisdom in the real world. When you get into the habit of applying your expanded mind and not just reveling in it, you will find that you can help introduce change into the world that makes it a better place for everyone and everything.
As you will see in this book, the cognitive and neural sciences are showing us that who you are is much more than an immaterial soul. It necessarily includes the reasoning parts of your brain, and those reasoning parts are so intimately dependent on the perception and action parts of your brain that who you are has to include them as well. Further scientific findings are showing that your peripheral nervous system, your muscles and joints, and even the gristle between your muscles are all transmitting information patterns related to forces that are acting on your body. Your entire body is doing some of your thinking for you. It is part of your mind. If you are willing to allow those non-nerve-based transmissions of information and data (across muscles and connective tissue) to be part of who you are, then you should be open to seeing other non-nerve-based information patterns as part of your mind when they directly impact your thinking, such as when your hand catches a ball or when your foot presses the accelerator on your car. Those external objects become part of you, and amid those toys and tools that you rely on so much, there are also other humans that you routinely rely on. Think of a conversation where you and the other person completed each other’s sentences and communicated entire ideas with just a nod. In a good conversation, that other person can become part of who you are. Extend that idea to the communication you achieve with your favorite pet. Is he or she part of who you are? What about the plants in your garden or the soil that feeds them? Wherever you draw the line and stop your expansion of self, that spot might seem a bit arbitrary to an unbiased onlooker. But don’t just take my word for it. Please don’t fall for those cutesy examples just cited. Trust the results of carefully designed scientific experimentation and analysis. This book is littered with them.
Throughout this book, I will continue to address the reader as “you,” as if we were just hanging out and chatting. I hope you don’t mind. I will continue to address you that way even after the content of a chapter has encouraged you to expand your sense of self to include people and things outside your body. That expanded sense of self will still be using the eyes in your head to read this text, so when I address you directly, you can let that word “you” refer to as wide a scope of your self as you like. When we get to chapter 8, my use of the word “you” will actually be referring to everything on Earth and more. Will you be ready for that?
Who You Are is not quite a choose-your-own-adventure book, but it’s close. You are encouraged to choose your own conclusion as you work your way through the chapters. Whatever station you get off at on this train ride, my hope is that the scientific evidence was sufficient to take you further along the track than you had been. All aboard!