WHO ARE YOU?

What makes you who you are, class?

Whenever I ask this question, it seems really simple at first. But as you think about it more and more it is a very difficult question to answer.

I spoke to several people at a social gathering a couple of years ago. One man said to me “my mind makes me who I am”. I asked if his mind defined who he was then how could I know who he is, seeing as I didn’t have his mind, but only my own? He could not answer.

Another replied “my actions make me who I am”. I asked her if her actions defined her, then what of those who followed the same path in life? I asked her if being a black man who decided to teach meant that all the other black men who decided to teach were of the same identity as me. She could not answer.

A third looked smug and told me that “my values make me who I am”. I stifled a laugh and asked him if he had been listening at all. If his values defined his identity then were all those who believe in peace and kindness a single person? Are those who believe in war and violence the same person too? He didn’t speak again.

Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. A young girl, who could not have been older than fourteen, looked up at me.

“Everything,” she said.

I waited.

“Everything makes you who you are.”

She was mostly right. The true answer is everything and nothing all at once.

I asked her what she meant, and she said to me that all three things the adults had said, plus a million other things combine to define who you are, because who you are defines all of those things. Who you are defines your values, and how you act, and what you think, as much as those things define who you are. A vicious circle. Everything and nothing, all at once.

You are born inexplicably you. One day you exist, and you already have your identity.

Except for Troy Solveig.

Loki.

For he is the trickster, eternally undefinable. He can take the form of any man or beast, and create an illusion where there is nothing. Others struggle to define him. He’s been called the God of Fire, he’s been likened to Lucifer. Scholars have said he is a hypostasis of his father Odin, as Yahweh was defined by the hypostases of the holy trinity. Another scholar called him a spider. And finally, one admitted that she concluded that there was no conclusion to be made of Loki.

The problem is, Loki himself does not know who he is. He takes so many forms, even just here in OSW – is Troy really his true form? Is there something darker we have yet to witness? Can Loki even control this, truly?

They are all questions I cannot answer, and I don’t think he can either.

And if he doesn’t have an identity…

…how can he ever expect others to follow him?