{"id":2629,"date":"2026-06-05T17:52:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T17:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/?p=2629"},"modified":"2026-06-05T17:52:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T17:52:58","slug":"i-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/i-am\/","title":{"rendered":"I am\u2026\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am\u2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I am not one thing, but many things\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all I am human, and the human species operates within certain conditions and boundaries, so depicted by nature\u2019s laws\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, I am an individual, a distinct legal entity with certain rights, needs, goals, and responsibilities with certain capacities and attributes, such as logical reasoning, morality, ethics, principles, virtues and vices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, I am part of a culturally established society, operating within certain social relations – with certain social and legal responsibilities and classified on a certain level within this social group\u2019s hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I exist in this world in a Physical dimension, Social dimension, Psychological dimension, and a Spiritual dimension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The physical dimension<\/strong> – relates to the environment and the givens of the natural world. This includes attitudes to my body, to the concrete surroundings I find myself in, the climate and the weather, objects and material possessions, bodies of other people, my own bodily needs, health, illness and my mortality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The struggle in this dimension is, between the search for domination over the elements and natural law (as in technology, or in sports) and the need to accept the limitations of natural boundaries (as in ecology or old age). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognising one\u2019s limitations here can deliver a significant release of tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The social dimension<\/strong> –  relates to others as I interact with the public and chosen groups. This dimension includes responses to the culture I live in, the class and race I belong to (and also those I do not belong to). Attitudes here range from love to hate and from cooperation to competition\u2026 leading to acceptance or rejection, belonging or isolation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people prefer to withdraw from the world of others as much as possible. Others blindly chase public acceptance by going along with the rules and fashions of the moment. Otherwise, they try to rise above these by becoming trendsetters themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By acquiring fame or other forms of power, I can attain dominance over others temporarily. Sooner or later, however, everyone is confronted with failure and aloneness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spiritual dimension<\/strong> – relates to the unknown and thus creates a sense of an ideal world, an ideology, and a philosophical outlook. It is here that I find meaning by putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some people, this is done by adhering to a religion or other prescriptive worldview. For others, it is about discovering or attributing meaning in a more secular or personal way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contradictions that must be faced in this dimension are often related to the tension between purpose and absurdity, hope and despair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People create their values in search of something that matters enough to live or die for, something that may even have ultimate and universal validity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually, the aim is the conquest of a soul or something that will substantially surpass mortality (as in having contributed something valuable to humankind). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facing the void and the possibility of nothingness are the indispensable counterparts of this quest for the eternal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The psychological dimension<\/strong> – relates to the mental and emotional state, how I create a personal world, my character, my past experience and future possibilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contradictions here are often experienced through personal strengths and weaknesses. People search for a sense of identity, a feeling of being substantial and having a self. But inevitably many events will confront them with evidence to the contrary and plunge them into a state of confusion or disintegration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-affirmation and resolution is an active response to this – surrender and yielding is a passive response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facing the final dissolution of self that comes with personal loss and the facing of death might bring anxiety and confusion to many who have not yet given up their sense of self-importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest developments within positive psychology in recent years is the identification of psychological richness as a form of the good life, distinct from happiness and meaning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychological richness<\/strong> – describes the impact certain kinds of experiences have upon the mind. It\u2019s a dynamic state of robust cognitive engagement that takes on its own trajectory by stimulating new thoughts and emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A series of studies led by Shigehiro Oishi, has shown that a significant percentage of people across the world desire psychological richness (the mental and emotional state of a person) and would choose a life full of psychological richness over a happy one, or a meaningful one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychological richness arises from a vast and varied range of interesting experiences<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feeling of the interesting, arises when whatever it is you are doing hits your mind in a way that draws you in and makes you want more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it\u2019s a conversation with a friend that is so effortless and engrossing that you feel as if it could go on forever, and, afterward, you find yourself still thinking about it. Maybe it\u2019s reading a book that you can\u2019t put down, that twists your emotions and leaves you looking at the world a little differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the interesting is all about what stimulates your mind, the best way to understand the interesting is to think about your experiences of it. Think about how different it feels when you are captivated by whatever you are doing and when you are left flat by it. Then start to pay attention to the interesting as it arises within you. Identify what the interesting feels like for you. That\u2019s what is going to help you develop more psychological richness within your life.
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I am\u2026\u00a0 I am not one thing, but many things\u2026 First of all I am human, and the human species operates within certain conditions and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_customify_content_layout":"","_customify_sidebar":"","_customify_page_header_display":"","_customify_disable_header":"","_customify_disable_header_top":"","_customify_disable_header_main":"","_customify_disable_header_bottom":"","_customify_disable_page_title":"","_customify_disable_content_vertical_padding":"","_customify_disable_footer_top":"","_customify_disable_footer_main":"","_customify_disable_footer_bottom":"","_customify_breadcrumb_display":"","_customify_header_transparent_display":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-identity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2630,"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629\/revisions\/2630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rizeldelano.com\/chronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}