{"id":9119,"date":"2014-10-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/blog\/the-significance-of-the-i\/"},"modified":"2014-10-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T22:00:00","slug":"the-significance-of-the-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/blog\/the-significance-of-the-i\/","title":{"rendered":"The significance of the &#8216;I&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--\n\n<h2>When we look at the classic (dead) languages like Greek and Latin, the  \u2018I\u2018 still is in the verb, it is not a separate word. In the conjugations  of the verbs we can find about whom is spoken. We still find this in  the roman languages like Spanish - a living language. In French, German,  English or Dutch for example 'I' has become a separate word.   We don't always use the word 'I' with a full awareness. It is like a kind  of reflex, also in the inner life of thoughts. But there is a definite  perception of the 'I', and the saying 'I' is based on this perception.  For the concept of life it is of great importance how we look at the  'I'.<u><em><a title=\"YouTube\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">YouTube<\/a><\/em><\/u><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a title=\"ouTube\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><img  alt=\"Mieke Mosmuller\" data-src=\"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/442f6bdcd6cfa2822fe3ebd8e836dddc.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n--><br \/>\nWhen we look at the classic (dead) languages like Greek and Latin, the \u2018I\u2018 still is in the verb, it is not a separate word. In the conjugations of the verbs we can find about whom is spoken. We still find this in the roman languages like Spanish &#8211; a living language. In French, German, English or Dutch for example &#8216;I&#8217; has become a separate word. <\/p>\n<h2>We\u00a0 don&#8217;t always use the word <strong><em>&#8216;I&#8217;<\/em><\/strong> with a full awareness. It is like a kind of reflex, also in the inner life of thoughts. But there is a definite perception of the &#8216;I&#8217;, and the saying <strong><em>&#8216;I&#8217;<\/em><\/strong> is based on this <strong><em>perception<\/em><\/strong>. For the concept of life it is of great importance how we look at the &#8216;I&#8217;.<\/h2>\n<p>If the &#8216;I&#8217; is spun by the brain, something that doesn&#8217;t really exist, but that is a kind of temporal aid to distinguish myself from the other,\u00a0 it means that he who feels like a special &#8216;I&#8217; will have to stop with this feeling someday &#8211; because the body dies. Everyone will, at some point in his life, have the reflection, the question: If the body, and therefore\u00a0 the brain decays &#8211; when dying &#8211; and if the thought &#8216;I&#8217; is a kind of secretion of the brain, then this egoism through which we try to distinguish ourselves so energetic is a rather senseless thing. For it is a perception that is passing by&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>For our happiness in life it is important to ask the following question: How does my &#8216;I&#8217; actually feel? If I neglect the theories about these questions for a while, I perceive that I am an independent individual, who has a name by which I can be called, but to whom I refer to as &#8216;I&#8217;. When one has reached adulthood, and decides to start some studies, along with it one gets to know nature, life, the cosmos better &#8211; depending on the kind of studies one starts.<br \/>However, when we draw our attention back from the outward and turn it to the &#8216;I&#8217; it seems to flee for this regard. The more one tries to fathom it, the more it becomes invisible. As long as one stays unified with the &#8216;I&#8217;, and doesn&#8217;t think about it, one has a clear I-perception. There is no need to reflect\u00a0 on it or discuss this. But in the moment that one says: I want to get to know my I better &#8230; one seems to grasp in a nothingness.<\/p>\n<p>A paradox arises. There is nothing in the\u00a0 world with which one is so familiar than with the own &#8216;I&#8217;. But it seems impossible to objectify this knowledge. The moment one tries it, one experiences that one knows the I the least of all existing things. Of course, we have our biography, our feelings, knowledge, ideals, fears, doubts, sympathies, antipathies&#8230; We can go to the psychologist to get to know this all better, or we go to the psychiatrist for a psycho-analysis, to fathom our unaware psychic depts&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Spiegel.jpg\" alt=\"The significance of the 'I'\">By ourselves, with the ability to understand, we don\u2019t achieve much in trying to perceive this wonderful being that we are and to whom we all say &#8216;I&#8217;. It seems to drift away as soon as we want to think it over.<\/p>\n<p>Then one turns back to the theories, the philosophical, the psychological, the historical ones.<br \/>But by doing that the immediate perception of the &#8216;I&#8217; is already gone again&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The &#8216;I&#8217; doesn&#8217;t show itself in the inner mirror &#8230; or does it?<br \/><em><strong>The significance of the &#8216;I&#8217; by Mieke Mosmuller<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we look at the classic (dead) languages like Greek and Latin, the \u2018I\u2018 still is in the verb, it is not a separate word. In the conjugations of the verbs we can find about whom is spoken. We still find this in the roman languages like Spanish &#8211; a living language. In French, German, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miekemosmuller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}