WHAT IS THE BIRTH CHART: DO YOU HAVE SOME ID?
The soul of the newly born baby is marked for life by the pattern of the stars at the moment it comes into the world, unconsciously remembers it, and remains sensitive to the return of configurations of a similar kind.
- Johannes Kepler, Harmonics Mundi
In an episode of the popular 90’s conspiracy series, The X Files, agent Fox Mulder has been infected with an alien virus that might make him uncharacteristically violent. His partner, Dana Scully, gets alarmed at the possible change to his personality and demands: ‘Have a blood test, Mulder.
You may not be who you really are.’ But have you ever wondered just what is that ‘real’ person lurking behind the everyday façade? What do we mean when we talk about our true self? The ‘real’ me? Can we actually measure or identify it?
A shortlist of psychological traits might be a good start - whether you’re extrovert or introvert, rational or romantic, loquacious or laconic, matter-of-fact or intuitive.
But – and you may have noticed this – these traits are never fixed: they alter according to whom we are with, and we behave differently with our partner or close friends compared to how we behave when the vicar calls round.
If a stranger asked who you were, you might offer your name.
But you’re clearly more than just a name – your name is a spoken sound, a noise made by your larynx/vocal cords. You aren’t just your body either, despite all the time spent looking at yourself before a mirror.
If you’re below the age of thirty you may well like to admire your cool new hairdo or perfect figure.
But let’s face it: beneath the skin you’re a mass of soft tissues and organs wrapped around a bony skeleton that you’d find repulsive without that comforting outer layer.
If you identify only with your physical appearance, by the time you’re about sixty you may be dismayed to find it has undergone drastic alteration – sagging skin, wrinkles and extra body fat ... and that’s just for starters.
