“Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?” – Charles Bukowski
Who are you?
Any honest journey of inner development starts by answering that question, and it’s not such an easy question to answer.
If you asked me, I could start by saying something like…
“I’m Taylor. I’m a 33 year old entrepreneur, teacher, and practitioner. I like coffee and writing and MMA and attempting to decode the secrets of the universe in public.”
But of course, that would be a lie.
Yes, my name is Taylor — but I could change it tomorrow and still be me.
I’m 33 right now, but last year I wasn’t, and next year I won’t be.
I also happen to be an entrepreneur, teacher, practitioner, and coffee/MMA/universe enthusiast — but all of that could easily change, and I’d still be right here, plugging away.
So if none of that is actually “me” — who am I?
Better yet, I’ll throw it back to our original question:
Who are you?
Let’s peel back the layers and see what we find…
On the first, most superficial layer we have our thoughts — that crazy little voice in the head that almost never shuts up.
And I’ll tell you a secret; most people think that’s them.
But we know that it does shut up sometimes, when we’re in meditation or just feeling particularly peaceful.
And when that voice is quiet, we’re still in there, enjoying the silence.
So the math doesn’t add up; us minus thoughts still equals us, which means we are not our thoughts.
Okay then, what about our feelings?
Well, those are a lot like thoughts, aren’t they?
Rising and falling, coming and going, appearing and disappearing — and when they disappear, we don’t.
So we can’t be our feelings, either.
What about our likes and dislikes, or our beliefs?
Nah, same deal.
Becoming a conservative or deciding we don’t like oranges is a cosmetic change, at best — no matter how many times we change our mind, we’re still the one in there, watching it change.
Okay, here’s a better one:
Are you your body?
Well, we could gain or lose weight, grow or shrink, sprout a third arm or lose a limb, and we’d still be in there, being us.
Plus, the cells of our body are constantly changing — science says we have a “new” body every seven years — but seven years ago you were still you, and you’ll still be you seven years from now.
So I guess that’s another dead end.
Alright then, how about this:
Are you your personality?
Hmm, that one’s a bit more interesting…
It sounds like it should be closer to the truth — but which personality are we talking about?
Your personality when you’re with your friends, or with your parents? When you’re relaxed, or fired up? When you’re tired, or energized? When you’re cracking jokes, or in a serious conversation?
Are we talking about your personality right now, while you’re you?
Or your personality ten years ago, when you were also you?
Tricky, huh?
If you’re still you when your personality changes, then you can’t be your personality.
So, who are you?
That continuous sense of “you” you’ve always had…
That innermost point of view that has always been there, through every twist and turn of your life…
The part of you that remains when everything that can be removed is taken away..
Who, and what is that?
In a word:
Consciousness.
Peel away every layer that can be peeled away, and consciousness is what remains.
That, fundamentally, is who and what you are.
Everything else is identity:
Our name, likes, dislikes, thoughts, feelings, preferences, beliefs, values, personality, history, and everything else we normally think of as “ourselves” is simply a collection of ideas that have coalesced into the sense of self we present to the world.
Like an actor playing a character, we (consciousness) experience life through the character (identity) we are playing.
And as we just saw, our character is made up of fluid parts — parts that can change and evolve and transform.
Which means we, the actor, have the power to design our own character…
Which, in turn, changes the way we experience our entire life.
This isn’t armchair philosophy, this is the key to the kingdom:
Creative control is in your hands.
Our task, over these next two weeks, is to learn how to use it.
Stay tuned…
– T
