What is the essence of a person?

We live in a changing world, where every day we have to face new challenges. Although routine may make us believe that every day is the same, in reality each day is different from the previous one. Reality changes, and so do we.

However, it seems that there is something that does not change in us, that remains intact despite the passage of time. We call this immutable part that makes us what we are essence. Thanks to it we can differentiate ourselves from other people.

What is the essence?

We understand by “essence of a person” the set of qualities, traits or characteristics that makes a person what they are. The essence is invariable or practically invariable, since if it changes, the person would no longer recognize himself.

We can equate this concept to that of identity, which is understood as a set of beliefs, behavioral patterns and ways of feeling that differentiate us from other people. Identity is a construction that provides us with a feeling of uniqueness.

Returning to the concept of essence, where does the sense of permanence that characterizes it come from? It probably comes from our beliefs, from the conviction that we do not change. This belief is what seems to remain unchanged, but not because it is essentially that way, but because we resist changing it.

When everything changes and the person does not, we can affirm that it is not that the person himself does not change, but rather that he resists doing so. This should not surprise us, we all do it because the idea of ​​immutability that we have associated with our essence provides us with the security of being someone. If we constantly change, then who are we at every moment? It is better to avoid the anguish of not knowing and feel secure that we really are something.

The essence: is it born or made?

From an existential position, we can say that all essence is built from existence. In the words of Jean Paul Sartre, existence precedes essence. First we exist, therefore we are. We do not come to this world preconfigured, we configure ourselves in it.

So, first we exist, that is, we emerge into the world, we appear and enter the scene, and then we define ourselves: “I am a doctor”, “I am a family man”, “I am a charismatic person”. Therefore, We are not born being what we are, we become by relating to the world and others.

Now, we are now clear that the essence is made, it is built. But how? To do this, we are going to focus on a biopsychosocial explanation, in which we will understand that the construction of the essence of a person is made from the interdependence of several factors: biological, psychological and social.

Biopsychosocial construction of the essence of a person

Our biology is an important part of who we are. Genes play a relevant role in our personality. So, Our essence also depends on the genetic inheritance of our parents. However, this influence should not be understood as determining, but rather as probabilistic. We have a predisposition that may or may not be activated depending on the environment.

The psychological factor plays another important role in the construction of the essence. What we think, what we believe, the way we feel and move in the world creates a cognitive, behavioral and affective pattern of relating and being.

At a cognitive level, the narratives we construct about what happens to us and about ourselves give rise to a consolidation of this essence. Through them, we maintain a coherent story that reinforces who we are.

These factors are deployed within a particular context, within a social structure in which not only socioeconomic or political variables intervene, but also family ones.

In this sense, the upbringing that our parents give us is a key element in who we are and in the activation of our genetic predispositions. The environment establishes an ideal of being for us, reinforces it, shapes it, defines it. according to your own expectations.

The essence is interrelational

The essence is the product of the interrelationships of several factors and we cannot reduce it to a simple biological or psychological question. People are a biological system that thinks, feels and acts, that is, we are also a psychological system. We suffer, we enjoy, we enjoy, we long for and we live in our relationships with the environment.

In the world we can find people with the same genomes, but not with the same knowledge, the same experiences and experiences. The essence lies in the relationship of different factors acting together. It can be said that the biological dimension creates a human body, the psychological dimension identifies it as its own and the social dimension shapes it.

The essence and the change

In this point, We can venture to say that the essence of a person is the change and interaction of the biological, the social and the psychological. Although we have the impression that we do not change or we resist it to continue reaffirming what we believe we are, it does not mean that we are not constantly changing.

Although there are elements that are more stable than others in our human dimension, such as genetics or DNA, we should not take for granted, then, that we are immutable, because, remember, a single factor does not make the essence, but rather the interrelation of them.

Finally, essence as a biopsychosocial construct opens the way for us to assume a more active stance when it comes to shaping who we are. Not everything is predetermined by biology or social structures. We can choose what we want to be at every moment of our lives.

You might be interested…