Disclaimer: The following document fragment is presented from an in-character perspective, it should not be taken as the truth of the setting.
Context: It would, at least superficially, seem to follow that mages, understanding so much more about the nature of reality, the mind and the “soul” would have some greater understanding of the fundamental nature of the “I”. Yet, they have pierced one veil only to find their vision clouded by a wider breadth of solipsism. And it doesn’t seem as if humans are the only ones.
The substance of the body.
The substance of the soul.
Search as you may.
You will not find the essence of man in either.
~ Cicero the Thrice-dead, 3rd century AD
To some, this is heaven, and they are right.
To some, this is hell, and they are right.
To some, this is a man, and they are right too.
~ Unknown, 13th century AD, speculative
As our knowledge of the world grew, we assumed that the very nature of man would reveal itself to us in time. We were wrong. Indeed, our continual studies showed a shocking unknowability of the human condition.
The body is not a puppet to the soul; instead, both kneel to some separate will. Or so we believe that there is a component of the human condition still hidden from us. But, where could this element, this true or hidden soul, reside? It seems dubious for it to simply dwell somewhere within the supernal realm of dreams where we cannot reach. Does it then suggest a higher supernal domain still, one that exists elsewhere entirely? But is that not multiplying existence beyond need? Once humanity believed in a multitude of physical and metaphysical realities, yet now we know them to be two. Then does this too possibly contain a simple explanation?
We do not know.
The nature of manhede lies firmly beyond our grasp and perhaps in a way where speculation may do more harm than good. We do not even yet know the right questions to ask, and even less so, to give answers to them.
But we are not the first to ask, regardless, about the nature of the human condition and manhede.
The philosopher-mage Cicero, the Thrice-dead, wrote in his conversations with Alba of the Elder God Anthropos. To him, humanity was, but a force of nature manifested from this God, no different than how any other phenomenon is the flesh of the Elder Gods manifest to us in the awoken, physical realm. Thus as Cicero saw it, manhede was but an illusion, not a choice driven by our will, but a predetermined outcome, the nature of the human condition no different than it is for a rock to fall when cast into the sky.
But this, too, while considered insightful, does not seem accurate. And we find this in the words of our great brethren in the Cosmos. Asked about the nature of its existence, the great being It That Peers From Behind The Veil gives an enigmatic answer:
I am the lynchpin driven from the Cosmos down into the Dream; I am, therefore, I am.
The great beings oft repeat this notion. And It That Peers (if I may allow myself to shorten the name of That Which Dwells Beyond The Veil) in particular calls back to it many times, in confusion, when questioned about the nature of its hede. It echoes that of the Living Beings:
Ehyeh asher ehyeh.
Perhaps that is the truest answer possible to give. The answer that we simply are.
Esoteric Musings... 