The Ship of Theseus - Am I Still the Same Person?

Ten years ago, I was seventeen. I went to school as usual, hated studying, and enjoyed online games just like everyone else. The only thing that ever crossed my mind was: how do I get better at this game? I was a senior in high school. There was a faint anxiety about the future somewhere in the back of my mind, but I brushed it aside and just kept telling myself it'll work out somehow, drifting through each day without a second thought.

Now, how about today? I smoke every day. The addiction I once hated most, the one thing I swore I would never touch. And studying, the thing I so desperately tried to avoid all through school, I now do on my own because I genuinely want to.

And today, the only thought on my mind is whether my son had a happy day. Who could have imagined I would become a father at twenty? I dare say not even God saw it coming. Or was it His plan all along?

The me of ten years ago and the me of today may have a slightly different face, but we share the same name and the same ID number. Yet I believe the only thing that is the same is the body. I think of myself as a completely different person.

The best example I can think of to illustrate this is the Ship of Theseus. It is a philosophical thought experiment and paradox: if all the original parts of an object are replaced, is it still the same thing? Some say yes, since it looks the same it is the same. Others say the appearance is identical but since every part has been replaced, it is a different ship. Everyone thinks differently, but I believe it is a different ship.

We tend to think we live the same day over and over. But as those days pile up, before we know it we are living an entirely different life. Ten years from now, will I really still be the same person I am today?

If I grow old, develop dementia, lose my memories, and can no longer recognize my wife, my son, or the people around me, can that really be called me? The body may be the same shell, but hasn't the existence that is "me" already disappeared? If that day ever comes, I think it is right to say that the me from the past has died.

There is no right answer to this dilemma, but I have decided to think of it this way. In the past, present, and future, I will die and be reborn countless times. Whether those rebirths take a good form or a bad one, the cycle of dying and coming back will go on. And right now, that dying and being reborn is still happening. What even is the existence called "me"?

Maybe "I" never really existed to begin with. An illusion, and what I believed to be my self was nothing more than a misconception. The self of ten years ago and the self of today are different. If the self is what I am, then am I not a different person?

Still, it doesn't matter. Whoever is living in this body, in that moment, that person is me.

I like to think of it like this. A lives in this body for a while, and the experiences and wisdom gathered during that time get passed along to B in the future. It repeats infinitely, and with each passing I hope each version of me lives just a little better than the last. Pain, joy, and grief. None of it lasts forever.

If today's me was happy, tomorrow's me might be miserable, and yet another me on some other day might be living a completely different life. I need to accept everything as it is and keep working toward a better life. I have decided to just live like the movie Identity (not that I want to do any kidnapping). Every morning the body stays the same, but the mind living within it changes. Even as the mind changes, the fact that this body still has to work hard and live well never changes.

Another version of me wakes up tomorrow. I'm going to sleep now so that person can have a good day.