How do we define our self? Most of us would define our self based on our skill, culture, social status, etc. All of these are external properties which label us temporarily. These labels are an illusion created by the ego to fill a hole that is within. It’s a bottomless hole with brief intervals of fulfillment. Eckhart Tolle (1999) describes the ego’s search for wholeness:
The ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things. The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.
So, who are you? Everything you think you are comes from experience and perception. Strip it all off, all the imprints society has made on you, your identification, your possessions, and all you’re left with is your essence, this is your Being. But don’t seek to grasp it with your mind, it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of “feeling-realization” is enlightenment (Tolle, 1999).
Everything has a Being. Everything is. A tree doesn’t try to be a tree, it is. As humans, we have to rid the ego so we can Be.
I recommend reading Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus. It’s a short story that will jump start your journey.
Reference:
Tolle, Eckhart. (1999). The Power of Now. Novato, CA: New World Library
