The you that you think of as you (and that thinks of you as you, and so on) is not you, it’s just the character that the underlying truth of you is dreaming into brief existence. Enlightenment isn’t in the character, it’s in the underlying truth. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a dream character, of course, unless it’s your goal to wake up, in which case the dream character must be ruthlessly annihilated. If your desire is to experience transcendental bliss or supreme love or altered states of consciousness or awakened kundalini, or to quality for heaven, or to liberate all sentient beings, or simply to become the best dang person you can be, then rejoice!, you’re in the right place: the dream state, the dualistic universe. However, if your interest is to cut the crap and figure out what’s true, then you’re in the wrong place and you’ve got a very messy fight ahead and there’s no point in pretending otherwise.
But beauty, real beauty, ends where intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of a face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don’t think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful.
Intelligent practice always deals with just one thing: the fear at the base of human existence, the fear that I am not. And of course I am not, but the last thing I want to know is that.
Q: Since all is pre-ordained, is our self-realization also pre-ordained? Or are we free there at least?
A: Destiny refers only to name and shape. Since you are neither body nor mind, destiny has no control over you. You are completely free. The cup is conditioned by its shape, material, use and so on. But the space within the cup is free. It happens to be in the cup only when viewed in connection with the cup. Otherwise, it is just space. As long as there is a body, you appear to be embodied. Without the body you are not disembodied — you just are.
So the most important thing to realize is this: Your life has an inner purpose and an outer purpose. Inner purpose concerns Being and is primary. Outer purpose concerns doing and is secondary…. Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet – because it is the purpose of humanity. Your inner purpose is an essential part of the purpose of the whole, the universe and its emerging intelligence.
Buddhism stands unique in the history of human thought in denying the existence of a Soul, Self or Atman. According to the teachings of the Buddha, the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other defilements, impurities and problems. It is the source of all troubles in the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this false view can be traced all the evil in the world.
on May 30th, 2008 at 10:39 am
I am my body and it’s energy field because that is how I manifest in this reality in order to learn what I must. I am a result of what I have seen and learned and felt and I am simply a part of the experiment of life.
May’s last blog post..My Animal Totems: Cats
on May 30th, 2008 at 10:39 am
I seem to define what / who I am in terms of my relationships (or lack of them) to other people, things or concepts – I’m his father, her husband, their son, the guy who works here, that weirdo who doesn’t own a car, the bloke who leaves dopey comments on this blog…
As far as an actual ME in the middle of all that, not so much. I’m a product of my context. Probably not the “right” answer, but that’s where I am at the moment. I’m fascinated to hear what the other answers will be!
on May 30th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Unfortunately I don’t have an answer to the question “who am I”. Since childhood I have been raised to believe that I am my my body. I’m not sure about that anymore. One can look at it from another direction as well, I practice noticing also what I am not. By the way, here’s a funny video on the subject “who am I”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz2CJB9br5Q
on May 30th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Did you notice Tom that you actually asked 2 questions? What am I? and Who am I?
Its interesting that when you go deep enough, the questions of who, what, where, when, and why all come down to the same answer.
What am I? I am that which is not what, beyond any question. Yet I can also ask what am I not? To that I could say nothing. So I am everything and nothing both. (laughs) Ironically, thats not a paradox as they are the same thing.
Davidya’s last blog post..Deep Dreams
on May 30th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
At the risk of sounding cliche, the answer that springs to mind is just “I am.” And even that’s not quite right, because the “I” bothers me – still a label. I guess just “beingness” could sum it up nicely.
In really good moments – when my mind shuts up for a change – the question of “who am I” is just met with a comfortable silence … words don’t really work as an answer, do they?
Blessings,
Andrea
Andrea|Empowered Soul’s last blog post..Sharing Our Evolution
on May 31st, 2008 at 3:20 am
I am what I am. Nothing more nothing less.
Mark’s last blog post..I’m justa grateful for my friends and family
on May 31st, 2008 at 10:24 am
I guess I could get all metaphysical about that question but I am getting a little tired of the woo-woo.
I believe that what we are is the talent we have decided to bring into this life experience. (Yeah. What WE decided – not some high Universal Being)
It took me years to find the common thread in everything I have done because the amount of things I have attempted is almost embarassing.
Finally nailed it. I brought in the talent for communication. (You too, Tom?)
How and more important, IF we use our talent is our measure of success.
Corinne Edwards’s last blog post..GOT A PROBLEM? – Just flake out for a while
on May 31st, 2008 at 11:33 am
Hi Corinne
Ah, but you and some high Universal Being are one and the same (laughs). The talent can also be described as the purpose. Its an interesting thing to realize why we’re here and see the thread of that throughout our lives.
When we express our purpose, and don’t get in the way of the possibilities, life can be a lot more fun…
Tom asks What and Who. You raise Why. Eckhart and others cover Where and When
Davidya’s last blog post..Deep Dreams
on May 31st, 2008 at 11:36 am
Hello everyone… Such amazing comments! I’m going to refrain from commenting directly on what anyone has shared because I really want to let the variety of views stand on their own. Maybe there isn’t one “right” view.
Probably not. But I love the responses thus far. I’ll post mine as a separate article later this weekend or Monday. I’m playing around with video again, so I might do a video response. A SHORT video response. 
on May 31st, 2008 at 3:06 pm
@Tom
Great approach. Indeed, each perspective or viewpoint of awareness will cause a different thought to the question. Andrea expresses that further by noticing how the answer varies for her. From the body to the silence and everything in between. The “right” answer? All of the above, because we are all all of it.
Davidya’s last blog post..Deep Dreams
on May 31st, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Well there’s lots of dimensions to who we are – so I guess there’s one (or more) answers for each dimension. I am/not my lungs just as much as I am/not my thoughts, feelings, values and so on.
At my core is authenticity and the journey of its expression.
Evan’s last blog post..How to Update Your Past
on May 31st, 2008 at 9:31 pm
@Evan – good point. Just be careful that you don’t think of dimensions as separate aspects. Its more a continuum of being. They are/are not different aspects of the one rather than a series of distinct realities.
I know this is just semantics, but its a key point.
As we step into experiences of different aspects of reality, people tend to see them as “alternate dimensions” or “alternate realities”. It is much more true to see them as a continuum of values of experience. With further integration, this becomes much clearer.
Davidya’s last blog post..Understanding Growth
on May 31st, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Hi Davidya,
It is absolutely a key point. I could not agree more.
One of the problems is finding a language for it. Writing stuff like our-physical-emotional-mental-spiritual-on-going-reality is pretty clumsy. So I end up settling for ‘person’ or whatever.
Evan
Evan’s last blog post..How to Update Your Past
on June 2nd, 2008 at 11:03 am
Who am I?
I used to think that I could have been one of many men or women that walked the earth. Now when I ask that question, I get silence. The former is the mind answering and the last … experience.
What am I?
My mind can readily answer that question using quantum physics. Energy. Even when I find myself in the “black void” (for want of a better descriptive word), I get no inkling of what I am. But I do know that I am not the body, it is my very personal tool that helps me interact with other beings that I probably would never interact with. {Birds of the feather flock together.)
To me, the mind/ego and body can be lumped together to give me experience – good or bad feelings, how beliefs create my “now” limited existence, how I relate/communicate to other beings, etc.
on June 4th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
What am I? It is easier to answer by stating what I am not.I am not my body, not my mind, not my thoughts not my intelligence nor anything else I can find a label to say who / what I am.
I am that continuum in terms of time, ‘brahmandam’ in terms of space, void, silence or black hole all rolled into one. I am part of it, in it, out of it, whole of it, none of it all – at the same time.
But one thing is absolutely sure: I am not what I think I am most of the times!!!
Vyasamoorthy
on June 5th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
What I have found when I ask the question, “Who am I?” is that the answer always changes.. by the second. Of course there is some repetetive thoughts like “I’m a nice person”, “I’m like everyone else”, etc. but I know these to just be mind-generated responses to the idea I have of myself. The closest I can come up with is I am not one thing and depend entirely on context to define myself. If I keep asking the question and just let my mind spew out answers it eventually gets to the point where I know that I just don’t know. At this point I sometimes feel a sense of awe and excitement.