While reading the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s narrative “Nature” I began to ponder the meanings that people place on the word ME, because to know what the Not Me is one must know what me is.
The Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary states that the definition of me is used as the object of a verb or preposition and sometimes instead of I or the word used by a speaker or writer when referring to him/herself. (Merriam-webster) While this tells one what the literary definition of me is, it does not tell one what me means to one philosophically. Philosophically, me is the embodiment of one’s self; more specifically one’s conscience, personality, thoughts, and social identity. (Wikipedia) Generally, we as a society define the things that make up one’s self as the things that make up one’s soul. The website Wikipedia states that “Aristotle, following Plato, defined the soul as the core essence of a being, but argued against its having a separate existence.” (Wiki) What this means is that your soul is you, it is not a separate thing that is inside of you.
According to the literary and philosophical definitions, the differences between ME and Not Me is ME is the things that make up the non-tangible items of one, and the Not Me is the tangible things that make up one. If someone were to cut off a toe, they could continue living a relatively similar life that they had leaded prior to the incident. However, if one were to have damage to their thoughts or a change in personality, that person would be greatly affected in the way that they lead their lives from henceforth.
