Greetings pilots,
A concept ubiquitous across almost all human civilizations is the notion of one’s individual sense of self. That is, one’s ability to perceive a collection of traits, beliefs, abilities, and other characteristics that they consider to define the essence of who they are as an individual. Such characteristics are not necessarily expected to be uniform or consistent across all peoples within a society, but instead offer a degree of expression of an identity specific to each particular individual.
Different societies across New Eden vary to the degree that they allow one’s sense of individual self to vary from the accepted norms of their wider community. The Gallente Federation, for example, largely prides itself upon its purported recognition of individuality and autonomy amongst its citizens, with relatively few binding requirements for one’s participation within wider Federal society. Other nations, by contrast, hold generally more restrictive views over the degree to which an individual may explore and express a sense of individual self. Caldari society, for example, typically frowns upon expressions of individual self that jeopardise one’s harmony with and obligations towards their corporation or family. Within Holy Amarr’s vast Scriptural canon, meanwhile, the Code of Demeanour is regularly held as an essential warning to all imperial subjects of the dangers of individual thought, as all sin is understood to necessarily take root within its exercise. Even within Amarrian culture, however, free thought is not strictly prohibited - I would not be considered to be sinful were I to state that my favourite colour combination is that of white and sky-blue, as opposed to any other combination. That sin originates from free thought does not necessarily indicate that all free thought is intrinsically sinful. Indeed, save for Sansha’s Nation, no collective entity within New Eden takes stances that completely eliminate one’s ability to hold a sense of self.
With that said, I am interested in understanding what senses of self posters on the Intergalactic Summit possess. Do posters here perceive any traits or beliefs that they consider to define their sense of individual identity to the degree that the loss or abandonment of those beliefs would leave themselves being no longer recognisable as themselves? Or, by contrast, do posters here consider their sense of self to be defined merely by a sense of linear continuity in their own consciousness - malleable such that they could take any particular form and yet still be identifiably ‘them’ so long as their continuity of consciousness was not broken in the process?
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on your own sense of self, if any of you would be willing to share.