From the author: An essay about human self-perception, posted by me in my newsletter on the LiveJournal page. Once on television I happened to see a program in which the wonderful artist Mikhail Efremov told the following story: “Do you know , that on earth there are only 20% people and 80% biorobots?!! And do you know what is the way to distinguish one from the other? The biorobot, when told this story, will always ask: “Who am I??” This is a joke, of course. But quite interesting, right? On the one hand, someone (it is not clear who) somewhere (it is not clear where) came up with some kind of classification. And the price for it is very likely - a penny on market day. But there’s something sitting inside that pushes you to ask questions like: “Who am I?”, “What am I?”, “What am I really like?” etc. Often many people who have “problems” do not answer such questions in the best terms. Well, this is what it is: “I am bad, evil, weak, pathetic, incapable” - the list can be continued endlessly. Sometimes such people ask for help. To psychiatrists, psychotherapists, neurologists, traditional healers, psychics, fortune tellers, to friends in the kitchen... And they often begin to “help”: they make diagnoses; depending on the fundamental nature of the diagnosis, they prescribe antidepressants, tranquilizers, droppers, iodine-bromine baths, juniper teas, special card layouts, dried sperm of a young virgin... (well, I got confused in the listings). But almost no one asks such a person the answer question: “Where, when, with whom are you angry, sad, depressed, weak, etc.?” Because man does not exist in a spherical vacuum. In many ways, our behavior is determined by our environment. And in some situations we manifest ourselves one way, and in others – completely differently. A diamond has an infinite number of facets, who will feel better if they are all meticulously counted? And it turns out that most of the problems that prevent people from living come from the very question: “What am I?” From the habit of evaluating yourself. And then hold on to these assessments by hook or by crook. Problems, by the way, arise regardless of what answer a person gives himself to the question: “What am I?” - positive or negative. Because as soon as a person “decides” on himself in this way, he immediately loses countless options to be different. For example, a certain man once in his life said to himself: “But here I am, confident and powerful!” And in all significant life situations he behaves accordingly. All that remains is to feel sorry for his loved ones in situations where other human qualities are needed instead of authority. Or a certain woman who decided for herself that “I am proud and independent!” How will she behave? That's right, regardless. And it may happen that in certain cases in life this behavior can impoverish her life. Just think - how much the lives of many, many people could change if they did not ask questions in the spirit of: “Who am I?”, “What am I? " And, for example: “Well, let’s see what kind of person I can become by doing this?” Just stop labeling yourself and allow yourself to be different..