In my theology, I have asserted that everything is an incarnation of God. This occurs through kenosis (a Greek word for ‘self-emptying’) where God takes on finite existence. Now, some people may not like this because it seems to mean that you are not really a ‘you’. You’re someone else (namely God). However, for Christians, at least, the fact that Jesus is considered an incarnation is perfectly fine. Now there are various translations, but basically the apostle Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  If this is not considered an incarnation, what else could it be? At the very least, it is an “infusion” of the divine being in the finite. The idea of incarnation dates back even to the first known narrative in history, the Epic of Gilgamesh (Gilgamesh was 2/3 god and 1/3 human). Then it continued in other traditions throughout the ages.

Also, while there is definitely a unique “you”, you are not a standalone entity. You are the product of your inherited genetics, the vast variety of your youth experience (particularly the parenting), your culture, your education, your relationships, etc. In other words, the you is not a “sui generis” (of its own kind). Your being is an “incarnation” (an ingression of your biology and experiences). So, far so good, right? But we can go further. Science states that the atoms that make up you are from the exploding stars in the distant past. In other words, you are an incarnation of star dust. So why not the very sources of the cosmos itself in divine creation?

The bottom line is that what you experience as a self is rooted in a communion of all things within reality. This does not make you any less than the person you are. You are still unique, but that uniqueness participates in everything that came before and combined in such a way that a self is present. This also means that you are not an isolated self. You are a part of all that is going on cosmically. It may seem like a small part, but it still matters because when you combine all the parts together in concert, it can make an important difference towards the ongoing creation of love, beauty, and meaning.