Who Are We?

Started off by a series of SMS with a friend when i related to her some simple exercises on how she can gain a little insight to who she really is. If you are interested, you can try these 2 simple exercise to help you settle into the present moment and gain a little insight to the workings of your mind.

Hear More with Silence

Breathing Mindfully

Now back to the topic proper - she mentioned that she is struggling to find out who she really is. If we all recall, most of us probably heard or came across this famous quote, "I think, therefore I am." sometime in our lives. I replied to her something similar ~ We are what we think we are. We are also what we think we are not. She got a little baffled at this and since it is difficult to explain via sms, i promised to write a short note on this and hopefully it will help.

First of all, we must understand interdependency and how we can relate it to our daily lives. Every single phenomena can only exist the way it exist now because of all other phenomena that exist exactly the way they were, they are and they will be. Any condition lacking and we will not know the world exactly the way it is now.

Imagine if any of the events that led you up to this stage in life did not happen, what will it be like? And also contemplate along this line, for all that did not happen - they also helped to shape the world exactly the way it is now. Once we are able to relate in such a manner, we will appreciate why Buddha said these exact words, "When this is, that is. From the arising of this comes the arising of that. When this isn't, that isn't. From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that."

This is why i replied that we are what we are and we are also what we are not. Every single person and event enable us to define exactly who we are in this very moment and yes when i mentioned event, it includes our very thoughts as well. So when we are also defined by what we think we are and in the same spirit we are also what think we are not, for it allows us to set the boundaries and define what we think we are.

Afterall, we cannot know long without knowing short, we cannot know joy without sorrow and we cannot also know happiness without suffering. So, the same reasoning applies, we cannot know who we are until we know who we are not =)