While the question you pose is indeed interesting (who am I?), you do not provide any concrete direction for answering the question besides telling people to stop doubting (which is vague and pointless) and you mix in some very questionable and only tangentially related statements (like the one where you say we only doubt negative things). I don't mean to be rude, but this post is the definition of meaninglessness disguised as profound insight.
I don't think Nikita's question is "meaningless"; we've all been there, even if only in the grip of freshman year existential trauma. The question needs to be sharpened up a bit, but there is nothing wrong with doubt. Just because the question is vague it doesn't mean it is "pointless". No?
@urizenus, the question here may leave many people thinking of it to be meaningless or pointless. But from the philosophical point of view, he who knows 'who he really is' is the master.
I really do understand that the question and the write-up have to be sharpened a bit. And I really thank you for it.
PS: This is my first article and I have to learn a lot of things from all of you. :)
I'm sorry if you misunderstood me. It is not the question that is meaningless; rather, it is the provided hints at an answer to the question that I find fundamentally meaningless. I even started my comment by remarking how I find the question to be very interesting. After all, it is one the quintessential and timeless philosophical questions of humanity.
I really appreciate your interest. I would like to highlight some points here. Providing concrete direction is not the motto here, what I try to explain is that we don't really know who we really are until and unless we introspect. Introspect is the hidden word here, which I expected the readers to THINK. Everybody is in a doubt these days and this doubt is a grey area which is neither black nor white. So, how to solve a doubt?
For this, we have to accept a doubt as either black or white. Think of a person as either honest or dishonest and stick to it. Then your mind is free. Doubting is always in an unstable state which gives rise to tension. If you accept a person as dishonest; That's it. He is dishonest. Finished. Your mind will be quite.
Free yourself is not written just according to its literal sense. It does not mean that I'm asking the reader to just stop doubting ( as you mentioned here as vague and pointless). What I try to say in between the lines is that one has to free them from the dilemmas of this world. Free yourself from the confusion to bring peace to yourself. Then only your mind will be quite. And of course, Introspect. Because nobody actually knows the answer to the question-"Who am I?"
There, now you have been a little bit clearer on your proposed method of dealing with doubt (which does not necessarily lead to any answer to the original question of one's identity). And I couldn't disagree more with your perspective. For me, doubting is an essential part of what I am and how I build my worldview. It's not that I do not settle some doubts over time, but I don't want to have an artificial and deluded certainty about things which are usually more complex than simple binary options as you have used in your example. Doubting may be healthy in the sense that leads us to reevaluate our mindsets and attitudes towards life and existence in general, opening up great opportunities for self-improvement and personal development. Doubting is at the core of both the scientific method and the Cartesian philosophical approach to epistemology. Doubting invites us to constantly reassess what we believe in and why. Without doubt, we would be collectively stuck in a conformed status quo, an illusion of enlightenment. I urge everyone not to stop doubting, but to embrace it as an attitude of openness towards growth and better understanding.