Starting with your physical appearance - your genetics are derived from those before you. You "look like" different parts of other people. Your emotional being is likewise also a derivative of your genetic inheritance as well as circumstantial/cultural conditioning. As a child you witnessed the emotional expressions of those around you and learned to emote accordingly. You realized that certain emotions were considered to be more beneficial than others and adapted your behaviour to try and maximize those that were considered acceptable and learned to minimize those that weren't. A baby cries and laughs freely as it pleases because it has yet to learn the rules of emoting. Today most adults are far less likely to burst into tears on a crowded bus than to burst into laughter. Your ability to feel emotion is something entirely personal to you; however how you "think you should feel emotion" and how you actually express emotion are both a function of your conditioning.
But perhaps, the level at which we most identify with our sense of individuality is in our thoughts. And it is at this level that we are paradoxically the most unoriginal. The vast majority of thoughts that you have on a daily basis are repetitive and imitative. Your opinions are rarely ever your own. Even if your opinion is something that stands in stark contrast to popular belief or consensus, even if it is something completely radical and unheard of, it is not something you have invented. Opinions are never invented. They are simply derived. You may have a particularly creative way of rearranging the words in a sentence, or rearranging a the sequence of thoughts in an idea and in that sense may present something that seems more fresh and original than what others have heard before. But here as well, the uniqueness of your expression lies in the creative ways you are able to redress the old. At the end of the day, we are all just regurgitating. No one ever creates anything new. But this isn't meant to be a negative statement but rather if read carefully and seen clearly into can offer great hope and optimism for our entire species.
We live in a Universe where nothing is ever created or destroyed. Just as the laws of physics state that neither matter nor energy can ever be created nor destroyed, so too within the realm of Conscious expression, including the emotional and the mental, nothing can ever be created or destroyed. No idea can ever be destroyed no matter how evil or destructive. No ideology can ever be suppressed forever. That is one of the most beautiful things about Conscious experience. There is no limit on what you can think. Similarly, no idea can ever be created. It can only be derived. Every idea that ever existed was based on an idea before it. Language itself arose from the need to express emotion and sensation in a more effective manner. Words themselves, were derived from the previously unintelligible grunts of our primitive ancestors. So regardless of which famous person said what in history, whether it was Socrates, Einstein, Marx or Thoreau - each one of their insights and realizations was based on a history of hundreds and thousands of years of insights and realizations before them. Similarly, their insights set the stage for the thousands of years of insights that came and are yet to come after them. It is all so intricately and beautifully connected that to try and claim some individual propriety over a thought is absolutely absurd. When you talk about intellectual property, what you are effectively claiming is ownership of a thought process or an idea as if you actually created it. But that is just as absurd as claiming ownership of land as if we have some control or dominion over the Earth. That we act in such a manner is more the result of our social contracts with one another rather than any absolute reality. In reality, you cannot own anything because truthfully none of it belongs to you. You did not create it, neither your body, nor your emotion nor your intelligence.
The very fact that we come in with nothing and leave with nothing is an indication that none of it really belongs to us. It’s kind of like a playpen at a daycare where you can come in and play with the toys, and within the game you can claim "temporary ownership" of whatever you lay your hands on, but when it’s time to go home you don't get to take any of it with you. You were only permitted to borrow it for a while.
Similarly, your personality, even your name, is simply a temporary alias, just a borrowed identity. This name that means so much to you and is your unique identifier was fished out of a rolodex of a million baby names that your parents studied over. Your personality, the words you use, the inflection in your voice, your accent, your beliefs, your ideas about yourself and others, your value systems, your morality - are all the toys in the playpen that you can claim for a while as long as you are willing to play nice. When it’s time to go home however, you don't even get to take that name with you.
This can be an immensely liberating revelation if seen with the right perspective. The very fact that you are not bound to your name, your personality, even your emotions and your body is something that has the potential to radically shift your whole perspective of life. No longer can you claim to be the victim of your circumstances, of other people's intentions, even of your own thoughts and emotions. When you realize that none of it really belongs to you, but rather you have only borrowed it for a while, just that recognition can be extremely freeing. This is particularly evident in patients who are suffering from a debilitating illness or severe pain. As long as the illness, disease or pain is seen as something that is "yours" that "you own", that defines you, it can seem insurmountable and overwhelming. But the moment it is seen instead as some borrowed experience that must be experienced for a while, then that part of you that is most essentially you, that most intimate essence, can never be touched.
Prisoners on death row have experienced this sort of disassociation from their circumstances and have reported feelings of deep peace, joy and gratitude which seem to completely contradict their circumstances. The fact of the matter is that peace is not the result of the absence of war, strife, suffering and heartache - but ironically exists in spite of them and sometimes especially within them.
But the realization of the unoriginality of this person that you think you are is vital for liberation, because it is this "person" that you are essentially becoming liberated from. And by "the person" I mean all of it: the ideas, the emotions, the appearance, the desires, the passions, the pains, and the sufferings - all of it. When you see that it is all just a costume that you don in order to participate in this great drama of life - then you have the freedom to set aside that costume if and when you choose.
This doesn't mean the costume is a shackle that needs to be discarded and done away with. In fact, this notion has been one of the greatest traps within the whole history of man's quest for spiritual realization. It has been a trait of every religion and every discipline - this denial of the flesh, of the human, in an attempt to realize the divine. And yet that very desire to do away with the costume is a shackles in itself, it is what makes it a bondage. But when you can see that the costume serves a purpose, that it is your greatest disguise and a thing of sheer genius, one that allows you to participate and express your true self at will, then it is no longer a shackle. To be truly liberated is to be able to wear and remove your costume at will.
When you can perceive this whole person that you are: your name, your physique, your drives and passions, your thoughts and beliefs as all different parts of a fabric that has been painstakingly crafted for your own enjoyment and expression then you may begin to perceive the whole experience of your life with some levity. Because a great production is all this is and is all it was ever meant to be.
