Does your online persona portray the "real you" or does it portray who you [want to be/ think you are]?
I think a better question would be, "is my online persona the COMPLETE me?" Although realistically, I don't think anyone's complete being ever shows. We just show particular facets in certain contexts, but the whole runs much deeper than the tip that break the surface in a particular context.
A few years ago, I think I was more honest and earnest in my online posting, and typically when people met me in person, I actually had them say, "Wow, you are actually just like you are online."
In most ways, I think I still am, although I think I have a more cynical/sharper presence online now depending on conversation. I allow myself to say things more bluntly at times and care less about having everyone like me. I mean, all of those aspects are still me, but I think I'm easier-going IRL and less apt to get into scrapes.
Then again, IRL, if I don't get along with someone, I don't have to hang out with them either; on forums, people who aren't necessarily on the same page are still sharing the same spaces, and there is little repercussion to conflict (aside from being so severe about it one gets disciplined).
IRL and online, people typically say I'm intuitive, creative, think waaay too much, have a funny sense of humor that can also be deliciously dark, show courage and insight (speak with candor), stable, a good listener, and generally kind and very understanding. However, I can also be very reclusive, careless / missing detail, undisciplined, a little unreadable/unknowable (depending on the person, I don't do well with sensors sometimes), can seem snobby or cold when I pull into myself (usually out of anxiety), etc. I guess that all kind of fits me.
Does knowing who you are matter?
Them knowing, or me knowing?
I think less so for me nowadays with the first, but typically I still want people to "know me" as much as possible. I know some online people who mask everything RL about them; for me, the online world is still a community where I can develop relationships, and the closer I want to be to someone, the more I will open up about things. I want to be known. I just have less compulsive need for it nowadays, now that I've fixed up my life and corrected some things that were really leaving me frustrated and unhappy; I'm more okay with being alone again.
As far as me knowing myself, that helps me in interactions because I'm more aware of what I need to be happy and I have fairer expectations for myself, and it also helps me to cut others some slack too, I suppose.
Do you think it is possible to truly know yourself? Why?
I don't think you can 100% know yourself, for a few reasons:
1. We're all moving targets. We're not static personalities, we are constantly growing and changing.
2. There is unrealized potential in each of us, both positive and negative, and we won't know about it until we run into a situation where that part of us becomes relevant.
3. We are not omniscient, nor are we conscious of every available context in which to interpret and understand ourselves.
All that being said, I think it's possible to have a good idea of the general aspects of who we each are. I know myself much better than I knew myself 20 years ago, and it has helped tremendously, not only in terms of being "okay" with who I am (including the bad parts) but having reasonable expectations for myself and also being open to others.
Do you encourage people to use themselves as an experiments to find themselves?
I think part of 'finding ourselves' involves experimentation. But I would add the caveat that everything we do contributes to the whole and has an impact on our future. So in the process of "finding oneself," one should make sure they are willing to accept the consequences of the things they do. Nothing happens in a vacuum... even experiments. Manage risk and outcome appropriately, based on your own margins of risk and acceptance.
