How Intro: Persona subscribes to an Ethical Standpoint
‘Who the hell am I?’ seems like an ontological question, but as we ponder about the lyrics of the song, it has allowed us to see how RM subscribes to an ethical undertaking. Ethics, in this regard, is seen as the endeavor of living the “good” life. The barometer of the recentering of the Self has been perfectly made in the song. Despite the presence of the eyes of the public and the people around him, and the recognition of his past actions, RM molded his contingent yet directed way of life.
The ‘I’ has been instituted as a sum of one’s foundations, changes, mistakes, narratives, and reconfigurations in a lot of literature and texts. What makes Intro: Persona unique is its detailed presentation of what the self takes in the direction of life. In the lyric, ‘Who am I? The question I had my whole life, the question which I probably won’t find an answer to my whole life’, it is established that the search for oneself may consist of a quest without a definite finality. A person is, by themselves, a constant contingency while being a significant existence who is capable to direct their own life.
The line ‘I’m still not so sure if I’m a dog or a pig or what else’ begets the ambiguity of a person in their presentation; these are the masks we wear in front of others. This presentation and conceptualization of ourselves creates a fundamentally ambiguous being. We choose and think about what we would like to be while being unsure of this state of being or identity.
The verse, One says ‘run’ another says ‘stop’; This one says ‘look at the forest’ that one says ‘look at the wildflower’, indicates the choices that are available to us in a specific context. Consequently, this presents a limitation in our deciding state. This bears us inevitable challenges and compels us to deal with them while weighing our intentions and goals.
Are we restricted by the very own paths that confront us every day? Are we simply choosing or actually doing?
My shadow, I wrote and called it ‘hesitation’; It has never hesitated after becoming that; It keeps appearing under the stage or the light. Hesitation does not leave us in our decision-making and in the assertion of our identities. One can decide to be or not be. However, to go for a certain “active” choice, one must take a risk or step in choosing. If one doubts, it could be a decision for passivity, for a better choice, or for other multiple reasons. Hesitation is not equal to fear; it may be a precaution to do things.
The regrets that I don’t even get sick of any more. I tumble with them every night until I’m disgusted. And twist the irreversible time habitually. The song recognizes the existence of regrets, its vital part in us, and how it could affect our routines. The true embodiment of regrets is the recognition of our mistakes, of what could have been, of the ‘supposedly’, and not simply the erasure and the contemplation of these. In moving forward and being yourself, one could regret and contemplate (painfully or dearly) about things we have done before.
The three syllables of my name and the word ‘but’ that should come before any of those. RM is aware of his former actions and seeks to remedy it. This does not involve clearing up one’s name or erasing the past, but coming to an understanding and having an open mind on how one should act to avoid repeating such mistakes.
Tell me all your names baby. The simple ‘what is your name’ becomes ‘tell me what you call your being, your persona and masks’ or ‘what do you want your being to be called’. We often consider our names for self-identification; however, these names are not solely for categorization and labeling. We can name ourselves as we want ourselves to be. In birth, we are deprived of the agency to choose what we call ourselves. As we grow, we know and we embody certain names that we could call ourselves.
We can reveal who we are in our own ways.
The map of the soul is “the map of a mystery that cannot be ultimately captured in rational terms and categories…a map of a living, Mercurial thing, the psyche” (Stein, 1998).
As we try to recenter ourselves by accepting our recurrent persona, the ‘me’ that I want myself to be; ‘me’ that people want me to be; ‘me’ that you love; ‘me’ that I create encompasses our choices, identity, associations with the Other, our history and what we aspire and establish to be. This is how the song aligns the self and at the same time, blurs the pursuit for a “good” life. The “good” life is fundamentally up to us.
Bibliography
Stein, M. (1998). Jung’s map of the soul: An introduction. Open Court Publishing.
