The question Who Am I has a standard response,
one of self identity. We identify ourselves by a specific name, religion,
nationality. We have a specific identity. This identity, this sense of self,
this uniqueness about I-Me-Myself, and the resultant deep entwined involvement
with it is what makes us humans; most of us, indeed nearly all, cannot even
dream of a situation where this does not exist, this identification. Even when
we merge in groups, families,
organisations, activities we keep this sense of self, this identity, this
uniqueness, this Ego. This is what makes humans tick.
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| Image by John Hain, Pixabay |
THE SKIN DEEP IDENTIFIERS
This identification is skin-deep, quite literally. It is entwined with our physical appearance, outward associations we have of family & society & status, our material possessions and so on. The question Who Am I gets a name, an appearance, a status, a family, a home and possessions, as a first level response. A thinker, an intellectual, will likely go beyond these and identify the thoughts, emotions, responses, attitudes, beliefs, a religion and so on, and say these are all “I” – with the reason that it is love that binds to family friends etc; desire / need that chases materialism, opinions beliefs attitudes that determine responses to stimuli. This thinker will create a far more resilient composite identity of self comprising external and internal perceptions.
This identification is skin-deep, quite literally. It is entwined with our physical appearance, outward associations we have of family & society & status, our material possessions and so on. The question Who Am I gets a name, an appearance, a status, a family, a home and possessions, as a first level response. A thinker, an intellectual, will likely go beyond these and identify the thoughts, emotions, responses, attitudes, beliefs, a religion and so on, and say these are all “I” – with the reason that it is love that binds to family friends etc; desire / need that chases materialism, opinions beliefs attitudes that determine responses to stimuli. This thinker will create a far more resilient composite identity of self comprising external and internal perceptions.
However, these cease to apply when you enter
the matters of the soul. Even the most deep intellectual will not venture beyond
the above paragraph – or if he or she does, it will be a detour taken to satisfy
curiosity, the thirst for knowledge. With some, it will be a religious path,
undertaken to get closer to God. With others, it will be a path taken out of
fear, anxiety; be that as it may, few venture beyond the seemingly safe
confines of the self identified above. Even during their journey into deeper realms,
rarely do they venture into the question of identity, the true answer to the
question Who Am I.
If you do not believe in the soul, or a higher
power – then these words will not make an impact; there is nothing I can write
in my current knowledge level that can convince you. If however, you believe in
the soul, then please do a small introspection – this entire self of self, all
of it – hinges on this gross body, and some of its subtler elements. All of
these will die and cease to exist. But your soul your aatmaa - will not – that being the case, the sense of
self I currently hold is inaccurate, and does not answer Who Am I. Reason is –
the answer to this question is also the key to my home, my real home. I am the
soul, this realization is only the first step, for it does not answer where you
belong!
But going beyond this realization is the hardest
of all in my opinion. An unliberated Aatmaa has to have an identity it can
associate with. After Human form it assumes another identity, but it is still
an independent identity. To complete the journey of the soul, it needs to go to
God’s above, to Unite. And on attaining Unity, there will be no identity, no
sense of self, no seperation. You will exist as one, Unity. That is your soul's
real abode. We have to rise above this sense of self, this seperation. We have
to want, to ache for, to pine for this Unity.
We cant even accept others children, other
religions, other nations, let alone letting go of self. We cant even imagine an existence wherein all
we know as ours – listed above in short-
will cease to matter, and will disappear. We cant even accept conflicting
opinions, emotions. We cannot even accept
religious paths that differ to our own. We cannot imagine ourselves
without our memories. But it is also a fact that one day all of this will cease
to exist, even your memory. You, that is your soul, will continue – but as you
totally identify with your artificial sense of self & your memories, will
cease to exist. That identification will sever its connect with the real you on
death. That is the reality.
To go beyond the material self, one has to
merge, fully and completely, with Unity. Lose all sense of self, all
independence, and merge into The One. This is what rising above the Self means.
And in the process of severing one’s connect with an artificially constructed “I”, we begin to get a glimmer of the true answer
to the question Who Am I. It {this
glimmer} will not be the destination, it will be a path that leads to the true
answer. But it will be there – and will have to be traversed.
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