The first part of the title is a quote from Hamlet. For the purpose of this article please read man as 'human being'.

What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a god!

Hamlet saw the God in us. What a piece of work indeed. However the piece of work is, in fact, always a work in progress.

A human being is just that, a being. A living, changing, evolving process. A verb not a noun if you like. Although I admit that it often looks and feels more like a noun.

To move swiftly from Hamlet to Only Fools and Horses...

You've got to love Trigger! But the question of whether an object remains fundamentally the same when it has had all of its components replaced actually dates back to the ancient Greeks and 'The Ship of Theseus', which asks the same question as Delboy does, and relates it back to our identities.

Especially relevant when you think that almost of our body's cells are being constantly replaced, so very few of the biological components of your current self existed when you were born - with the notable exception of brain neurons which are as old as you are.

We are not what we seem to be and don't actually exist in the way most people think. Our personalities, preferences, characters, traits, behaviours, likes, loves and dislikes all change throughout our lives often in profound and significant ways. 

So what? What's the inference or implication?

It's this: if we are actually a process, an unfinished work, a flowing, a waveform; then the possibility of change, of renewal and transformation is ever-present. In fact it's not even a possibility but a fundamental truth. We are in a state of constant change. The story is constantly being written, one day at a time, one moment at a time, one page at a time. And you're the author. 

When we are caught up in the misunderstanding that our identities are fixed we are not acknowledging our potential for change or the fact that we have an infinite capacity for more : more compassion, more creativity, more things we have not yet considered. That misunderstanding means we end up sticking to the script of our character, personality and preferences that we keep writing for ourselves, not realising it is us that is writing it.

How about writing in some fresh thoughts, new preferences, and behaviours?

Or even start with a blank sheet?

By seeing that we are the process, we see the unnecessary energy we put into protecting a personality and ego that:

A. We built ourselves (innocently and perhaps unknowingly)

B. Doesn't really exist!

I could go on with the implications, but perhaps they could all be considered under the banner of 'more freedom of mind'. More freedom to be as we wish to be, responding to the moment with the deep wisdom and intelligence.. infinite in faculties, in form and moving.

What a piece of unfinished work is a man?