| Hello Ted, Welcome to my discussion board. The question, "Who am I?" has been asked for eons. WE are what we eat only in the sense that if we eat healthy foods and avoid the unhealthy, we will have healthier, stronger bodies. However, we are what we think in the sense that our thoughts guide our behavior. Unfortunately, we are a combination of four people at the same time: the person we think we are, the person family and friends think we are, the person the outside world thinks we are and the person that we are becoming by our thoughts, speech and behavior. We are each a living and eternal soul ("psyche" is the greek word for the mind, will and emotions) and have an eternal spirit, made in the image of the Creator. Our bodies, which we cherish so much, is merely a temporary "earth-suit" we need to live on this planet. When the body dies, it returns to the earth and the natural conversion from one form of energy to another takes place (i.e. "dust to dust, ashes to ashes." Over eons our highly valued body decomposes and fertilizes the earth with its energy. Psychology is the study of the "psyche" and the energy it generates has been proven and is still being tested in numerous ways. Our mind, will and emotions are all powerful forces that can effect our lives and the lives of those we come in contact. Theology, the study of God, includes the study of the spirit, which includes the spirit of good, the spirit of evil and our own spirit. Certain religions believe that all living things have a spirit which is sacred and eternal. The spirit of good, which we call the Spirit of God (by whatever name), is manifest by the power to exercise the nine "gifts of the Spirit" which include: the spirit of the word of wisdom (the ability to spiritually advise a person on the best use of the informatiopn they already have; the word of knowledge (the ability to know things about another person that is spiritually provided with no other way of having access to this knowledge); the gift of faith (the spiritual ability to have faith to cause circumstances, and even help other people, to change for the better; the gift of healing (which allows prayer to create physical healing-both Protestant and Catholic traditions have plenty of examples of this gift); the gift of the working of miracles, which are attested to by both Protestant and Catholic traditions; Prophecy (the ability to predict the future); discerning of spirits (that lets a person know what type of spirit they are working with and how best to handle it); the ability to speak in languages you have not previously learned and the ability to translate languages you have not previously learned-both given supernaturally. There are those, both in and out of the Church, that would deny the existence of these gifts, however, I have seen all these gifts performed and have been used to perform many of them myself, all through the power of the Creator and not my own. All of these gifts have real power and produce real energy. One of the basic laws of physics states that once energy, of whatever type, is in existence it cannot be terminated, only changed into an alternate form of energy. Even our personal spirits can be demonstrated by the the way we live our lives, the ability to "feel" the presence of another person near us, even when their bodies may be many thousands of miles away. Since energy never dies but only changes, what do these three forms of energy change into when we leave this planet, and its temporary body and continue on to the next phase of our existence? There has to be another phase because we still have all that life-force energy that has to go somewnere. Many religions give you any answers to these questons and all of them require faith, because without faith it is impossible to please the Creator. In almost all religions, the founders of those religions are dead. Each of them teach various ideas of our next destination after this life. Your task is to determine who or what you want to believe, live your beliefs as best you can and take responsibility for the consequences both in this life and in the one to come. So, who are you? You are the sum of your thoughts, speech, perceptions, opinions, beliefs and, most importantly the love you have to share with yourself and others. In other words, you can be whomever you want to be but it is the sum of the things listed above that are shaping that destiny. I consider myself an atypical Christian, I believe in the concepts that Jesus expressed while on earth and try to live my life by his example, not always successfully because we are all human and fail. I believe the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God the way He gave it to the original authors but take to responsibility for what man has done to that Word over the past few thousand years. Who you become will be determined by the life you live and the role models you choose to closely follow. I am not a judge of others and can only tell you what works for me. You must make your own decision, decide if it works for you and if it doesn't, make another choice. Ultimately, you are a growing and eternal being, with unlimitied potential. What you choose to do with that potential is your choice. Doug | 
