Whatever essence you possess only exists while you are alive like consciousness
Your memory may survive in others but your essence cannot so is gone for ever
Even physics is fundamentally change… and it would be hard to pin down your unique “essence” by looking at the physics of your body.
Interestingly though, the physical body is in large part where we get the idea that we have an essence. “Essences” are really just identities. We project them onto objects. This has the essence of a rock whereas that has the essence of a tree, and that over there has the essence of my tree, the one I used to climb as a child. Identities. We do the same with people–that is John, that is Sarah, that is Steve–we identify the bodies, and like with all other objects, we think of them as “constants”. This is no less true for our own bodies when we look at ourselves in the mirror. Our essences acquire the uniqueness of our character by associations with all the peripheral aspects of ourselves–Steve works at a power plant, he’s a rather rude person, he dresses well, etc. ← All this goes towards who Steve is and colors his essence in a unique hue.
Gibbuns
Your will is an energy flow. It goes where your mind tells it. Your mind either gets distracted or stays on course.
Hows about your mind goes where your will tells it to but those blasted minds do get distracted while your will remains the same constant.
Ok, but then how can your will be unique? What makes my essence quintessentially “gib” and your essence quitessentially “Mongoose”?
No two have exactly the same personality so that is your essence
It is best to focus on the more important things.
Sometimes we become conflicted when we come to sense or realize that certain things which we will or desire are not in harmony or compatible with other things.
It’s the nature of mankind.
Memory. Early on I made mention of memories being erased before the soul enters a body (I have no idea why, but Ecmandu says we sign up to live through contracts throughout eternity- often Truth is stranger than fiction, assuming a newborn’s body), however I may remember a bit more than most and lack complete understanding of that too.
Perhaps the blood of your ancestors which flows through you, along with your individual life experiences which may have even began some moments after conception and how each of you tend to view the world.
Brain chemistry and how our very own individual peculiar minds relate to Everything might have something to do with it too.
A tabula rasa we are not.
It’s a very interesting question to ponder.
Let’s not forget that our origins are from among the stars.
Aside from that ~~ 
Happy New Year, Gib. 
Ancient, generous, and simple.
Is one’s personality really one’s essence?
I would think that one’s essence or, at least to me, what makes someone who they truly are, where they “live within their selves” resides in a deeper place than personality.
Many actually do have the same kind of personality I think but not necessarily the same essence.
I think that essence is more “soul-like” but not the soul.
My essence compels me to look up at the stars. Another’s might compel him or her to look at the next lamborghini or another’s might be to solve the world’s greatest newest mathematical equation.
Souls tend to be racist and speciesist to a huge degree.
They think they can choose and take bodies when ever and how ever they want.
They consider bodies as meat and as a box or a car or what ever.
A thing.
And then there is bigger shit exploiting the souls just like they exploit others.
Our essence can change. It can grow and evolve.
But it can’t always succeed when it’s put on the back burner or left in god’s incapable hands.
I will change, i will try my best to change in good ways,
but at the end of the day i am not entirely in control. So, we’ll have to wait and see.
Personalities and behaviors can grow and evolve, but not the essence of your soul. What you choose to do with what you have available is the change you are referring to but it doesn’t transcend lifetimes as a new you, the essence of the original you remains a fixture that can’t be denied.
"WendyDarling
I wonder about this Wendy. If we are capable of change in the above regard, how could that NOT change our essence?
As we grow, wouldn’t we also be capable of taking on a new “essence” or a more transformed one?
As something is affected, something else is also affected.
The essence of our origin which came out of that primordial soup is far different today than it was at that time.
Would I be wrong here, as per your above statement, in thinking that essence to you is really the *soul"?
It’s like being born white, while you may tan and act black (like that white chick who ran a chapter of the NAACP posing as an African American because she felt black), your reality is that you are white.
Are you saying that the essence you originally have can never be changed even if you want it to
And if you are what then is the change that inevitably happens to every one over their life time
Most people are only learning about who they are during their lifetime and who they are does not change from birth to death whatsoever…only their perceptions and behaviors change, not their core self.
Perceptions and behaviour are actually determined by your essence
And you can not have one at birth for it has not yet been developed
There are aspects of who we are which are, as they say, hardwired. These tend to be persistent through our lives. But nothing is permanent. Change is a fundamental law of existence.
Sometimes it’s a matter how fast things change. Other times it’s a matter of how frequently things reacquire their prior states.