Who Am I?

I have been asking myself for the longest time what it means to be a self and I've been asking myself who I am. I do not know the answers and so I started digging around in boxes of Dad's philosophy books from college. One of his book's, Nozick's Philosophical Explanations, has a chapter in the front about the self. Although I've not read the chapter in its entirety (it has a lot of variables that seem very dissimilar to their close cousins, the letters of the alphabet; no, variables take on a much more sinister appearance, which is why, despite my being fairly good at mathematics, I despise the subject), I skimmed a bit and talked it over with Dad. Nozick suggests that the self is anything with the capacity for reflexive self-reference.

Reflexive self-reference means the ability to look inward and to distinguish that, for instance, I am a different being than you are. It also means the ability to question what we do and who we are. This theory makes sense, but it seems to me to be lacking something. I have the capacity for reflexive self-reference and yet, I constantly feel like a piece of the puzzle is missing. I don't know what it means to be me. I don't know who I am. Is it just a series of adjectives that describe the way I act? Or is it what I value? Or what I want to do in life? Or how I view the world and its populace?

I do not know!

A teacher told me once that I over-think this question of "Who am I?" He said I need to just relax and have fun. Every time I try something similar, though, I end up asking questions about myself or the motives of people or why things are the way they are. It seems natural to me. Maybe this is who "I" am: a philosopher, a questioner, a metaphysician (I'm also reading Metaphysics: An Introduction by Archie J. Bahm)... And the pondering continues.

Final note: You may have marked the absence of the previously mentioned cast... I will write about them as I see fit, and soon, most likely. I have been somewhat remiss to mention them or to delve into my thoughts on their actions and reactions because I do not want to stir up trouble. In that vein, here is just a warning: If I do delve so into those sorts of discussions, it is only because I think about such things ALL DAMN DAY LONG.