I Am Still This: On Identity, Presence, and the Rhythm of Return

The Deeper Thinking Podcast

For anyone drawn to the quiet persistence of selfhood, the rhythm of return, and the gentle metaphysics of presence.

What does it mean to be someone—continuously, recognizably, and without spectacle? This episode moves gently through the terrain of identity, memory, and presence, suggesting that what endures may not be coherence or story, but rhythm—the soft act of returning to one’s center, again and again. Through sensory metaphor and philosophical atmosphere, it considers how the self persists, even when memory falters or roles dissolve.

Drawing quietly on thinkers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul Ricoeur, Galen Strawson, Martin Heidegger, Simone Weil, and Iris Murdoch, this meditation resists reduction. It honors the unspeakable intimacy of lived identity—the breath, the threshold, the echo of return.

In this exploration, the self is not a concept to be solved but a posture to be inhabited. Through episodes of stillness, disruption, and quiet coherence, we trace the pulse of what it means to say—not loudly, but recognizably—"I am still this."

Why Listen?

• Reframe identity as rhythm, not role
• Explore how presence endures beneath memory and narration
• Engage with Merleau-Ponty, Ricoeur, Strawson, Heidegger, Weil, and Murdoch through felt experience
• Find quiet affirmation in the return to inner presence

Listen On:

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts

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Bibliography

• Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception. Routledge, 1945.
• Ricoeur, Paul. Oneself as Another. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
• Strawson, Galen. "Narrativity." Ratio 17.4 (2004): 428–452.
• Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Harper & Row, 1962.
• Weil, Simone. Gravity and Grace. Routledge, 2002.
• Murdoch, Iris. The Sovereignty of Good. Routledge, 1970.

Bibliography Relevance

• Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Embodiment and perception are central to his account of lived experience, which underpins the essay’s focus on felt identity.
• Paul Ricoeur: His theory of narrative identity resonates with the essay’s idea of self as unfolding coherence rather than fixed form.
• Galen Strawson: Offers a counterpoint to narrative essentialism, foregrounding episodic identity and non-narrative continuity.
• Martin Heidegger: The notion of the self as a clearing for being shapes the essay’s structural quietness and attentional rhythm.
• Simone Weil: Her idea of attention as an ethical act informs the essay’s reverent tone and its understanding of presence.
• Iris Murdoch: Murdoch’s ethic of inner life, humility, and moral vision shapes the essay’s concluding sense of enduring selfhood as quiet fidelity.

To remain oneself is not to remain the same. It is to return—softly, recognizably—to the place from which life is lived.

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