Self-Definition

In the article “Islam in America,” one of the interviewees says that she can define herself in one word: Muslim. Think about yourself. Can you define yourself in one word? If so, what is it, and why do you think that it captures the essence of who you are? If not, why not? Are there several words that you think define you? Do you think it is a good thing to define oneself narrowly, with only one word, or is it better to base one’s self-concept on a wider range of ideas?

Defining a person with one word is sometimes hard. People often like simplifying and breaking things down, and  with describing oneself someone will break their personality apart to find a specific word that will describe their personality and their beliefs. It's not a bad thing; the term that people come up with is usually their center of their life and what they live for - essentially what their entire life is based around of. Based on my experience, if the person is religious, this word usually turns out to be their religion, or related to their religion. The interviewee deemed herself "Muslim", and I would bet that all devout Christians would call themselves "Christians" as well.

I don't think that using one word to describe yourself is altogether a good thing. As mentioned earlier, it simplifies the personality of a person and attempts to make sense out of yourself. A human being is complex (this is why I hate a lot of movies; they portray characters as very simple people who change in a very unrealistic way), and the emotions and personalities of a person tends to be ambiguous and contradicting. A person's personality is usually very broad-ranged. For example, one may be a realist, but is interested in idealist philosophies, or one may support a progressive party for one country, but be conservative in nature.

For religion, though, this tends to be different. If you are truly devout to your religion, then you have already set yourself out to seek a particular goal, and as you have accepted a certain doctrine that you are bound to, then a basic structure for your life is complete. Because my head hurts too much to continue staring at a computer, I will make the ending brief: this still may change, however.

For me, though, I can't call myself a Christian, so to speak, although I accept Jesus's doctrines. I would call myself more of a Christ Follower, as that term does not associate itself with the negative connotation of the term "Christian". It also means that I am more open minded to the world, but I still attain a certain level of spirituality. I feel very reluctant and hesitant to type this, however, because recently my spirituality has hit an all-time low. I guess I still follow Christ, though, despite the fact that recently things have been different. As I said, things change.