What defines us as individuals?  Or, better yet, why are we individuals in the first place?  How are we separated from others, and how are we unique?

These are incredibly huge questions.  Where is the core value of individuality located?  And what does it mean?

I'm asking more than I'm answering.  Frankly, I'm not sure that I can answer tonight, or possibly at all.  Humans all have different desires, on one level.  Some want to run businesses, others teach, others raise children...  We all have our own preferences.

For the most part, though, we share a similar set of core desires.  To be remembered in some way (stemming from a fear of death and nothingness), to survive as long as possible, to avoid pain, and to share in the company of others.  These qualities may vary in degree, but their presence is shared - they underlie the human experience. 

There can be said to be a similar core, with different outgrowths.  These are the differences that define us as individuals, it seems - those which are easily recognized.  The idea of "group psychology" is that you can remove these preferences, and the people will act, as an aggregate, as their core. 

But if we define ourselves based only upon these qualities, what is the significance of the individual?  Is it truly merely a set of preferences?  That cannot be the case - we have met people like us, but if preference was the only determining factor, we would often meet people exactly like us.  There is more to the individual - the individual mannerisms, characteristics, personality quirks.., that are entirely unconscious, generally uncontrolled, and incredibly different.  These themselves can cause infinite amounts of conflict.

Furthermore, no two humans (barring identical twins) look exactly the same.  Individuality seems a key characteristic of the human being.  Even the genetically identical twins, who share so many similarities, are often their own person.  We are the product of more than our environment, more than our genes...  All these things define us, yet fail to capture the true essence of our individuality.

We share many things, but it seems impossible that we are not all our own actors, with our own parts and characters.  Individuality seems to be inseparable from humanity.