Phones are not real and neither are you.

The phone is a concept made up many componenets. When all of its componenets are placed just right they produce a device we recognize as a phone. A table full of phone parts is not a phone until it is assembled and working.

People are the same, even more so than the obvious biological analogy.

Our mind follows the same pattern. That is — our sense of self: ‘I’.

We create ourselves. We decide what our desires are. We decide what our fears are. We decide what our purposes are.

Society evolved to understand this and has filled in our ‘I’ puzzle for us. It informs our desires, fears, and purposes. It doesn’t do this directly. It does this through small environmental changes that build on each other which insinuate the proper direction which you ‘should’ go.

We are always deciding what pieces to accept into our being and which to reject. For many, this has become unconscious. Some of what informs the unconscious are:

• those whom we associate with
• that which we watch for entertianment
• what we engage with repetitively

People are not uniquely unique, they are composites of their surroundings and inputs.

Just as an iPhone is composed of a screen, 2 or more cameras, and different other bits assembled with the oversight of Apple; our mind is composed of all information we take in, assembled with our own oversight. Thus, every fear or desire can be traced directly to a bit or bits of information previously absorbed. They are no more linked to you than how the camera lens is linked to your phone.

The obvious probelm — a phone without a camera has less utility to those using it. Some may even call it broken.

Likewise:

• You have less utility to a traditional employer without the fear of being fired or the desire to purchase a fancy car/house/vacation/etc.
• You will be less useful in the marketplace if you do not feel the need to purchase new clothes and accessories each season.
• You might also have less utility among certain friends without the desire for alcohol, sex, attention, etc.

Without these societally given desires, without these components, you are less useful to society.

The remaining question then becomes: ‘What is left if I take away all of these components?’

What is a phone without all of its componenets?

And how do you differ from a phone in a similar state?