Who am I?
A great question to ask oneself every day.
Who am I?
A meditation session prompt.
Who am I?
A spiritual practice in and of itself.
Who am I?
To be asked out loud and inside one’s head.
A name, a body, a gender, an ethnicity, an age, a job, a hobby, an economic class, a caste, a consumer, a thought, an emotion…
My thoughts, my opinions, my pop culture tastes, my bank account, my family name, my emotions, my judgements, my clothes, my car, my clout…
A question that seems so simple and easy. But when you take away all the basic, shallow, material answers, what is left?
Is it like asking the question where do thoughts come from? Where do dreams come from? Why do I breathe and blink automatically? What happens when we die? What will my next thought be?
Is it like one of those questions? Cause the answer isn’t one’s name, job, height, weight, or what we do for fun.
I found looking into that question, seeking the answer, to be as worthwhile of an undertaking as any I have ever engaged in. Finding answers from people like Alan Watts, Ram Dass and Eckhart Tolle brought something into my life that I desperately needed and feel most people are in desperate need of.
Like taking off soaking wet clothes after coming inside from a rain storm.
Oh, I’m not the constant streams of thoughts and emotions? I’m not how much value I can create in the capitalist system? I’m not the voice in my head? I’m not my memories? I’m not my successes? I’m not my future projections? I’m not my failures? What a relief.
I could not have hoped for fulfillment or contentment beyond a sugar high if I hadn’t learned the answer to that question. Maybe that’s when I first started living. I know that I am grateful to have the answer. No magic pill. No cure all. But without it I was truly lost. A slave to my moods and to things outside of my ability to control or influence.
Who am I?
Anarchy Journal Constitutional 