Pretending to be who we aren't, we have fooled ourselves

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The way we learn to speak about ourselves will lead us astray in knowing who we really are.

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Who we AREN'T

 

Consider these possible expressions which imply something about who the “I” is that you are.

 

“I think that John is smart.”

“I think that 2+2 is 4.”

Who is the “I” who thinks? Do you choose to think these thoughts?

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“I think he is a bad person.”

Do you choose to think he is a bad person? Could you choose otherwise?

 

“I feel like crying.”

“I feel on top of the world!”

Who is the “I” who feels? Could you choose to feel otherwise in that moment?

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“I believe in life after death.”

“As a Muslim, I believe the entire Koran is the word of God.”

“I am an atheist.”

Who is the “I” who believes? In the moment, could you choose to believe or be otherwise?

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“I am a Democrat.”

“I am a Libertarian.”

“I am a Republican.”

“I am gentle.”

“I don’t believe that I have much courage.”

With any of these examples, I contend that, at least in the moment, you have no power to choose other than what you think, feel, believe, or are.

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The Orange Man from Jupiter

 

Consider for a moment the idea that a little orange man from Jupiter has been planting all these thoughts, feelings, and beliefs into you and has fooled you into believing that all these thoughts are coming from you. Do you have any way of determining whether or not this is the case?

 

Do you have any choice as to whether or not to have these thoughts, feelings, and beliefs? I believe (do I have any choice about believing that?!) that, in the moment of their happening, you have no choice. They just show up. I call this the machinery of the mind.

 

I suggest that the “I” that is thought, that is felt, that is believing in these situations is not the essential you. If all these things are happening to you, who is the “you” that they are happening to?

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Who we ARE

 

Leaving aside the question

of the soul, I say there is a “you” 

whom each of us can distinguish 

and experience for ourselves.

This “you,” this “I”

is the You/I of choice, the You/I of creation through choice.

 

We are only present to this You/I 

when we recognize the option to choose

other than what we have chosen.

Only in this case can we say that

we had a choice, that we have chosen.

Who you are is the “you”

who chooses in this moment.

Who you are is continually being created by you in choosing

and distinguishing that you have chosen.

 

Once you have made this distinction of who you are,

you can begin to notice in which situations you have choice

and in which situations you don’t,

in which instances you have in-the-moment power

and in which instances you don’t.

 

For example, you can begin to discover

that you don’t have in-the-moment power

about most of the thoughts and feelings

that show up in your life.

 

What you do have 

in-the-moment choice and power over

is how you choose to act in response

to your thoughts and feelings and beliefs.

What you do have 

in-the-moment choice and power over is how you listen to 

and what interpretations you put on

those thoughts and feelings and beliefs.

 

I invite you to embrace

the chooser and creator that you are each and every moment,

while acknowledging your tendency to avoid choices.

 

Notice the continuing choice of courage

it takes to recognize the difference.

 

🙟