A Case Of Mistaken Identity

Have you ever paid attention to your body as it gets out of bed in the morning and goes about its daily routine? Noticed how it walks over to the curtains and opens them, goes to the bathroom, brushes its teeth, washes, combs its hair, how it puts clothes on and heads for the kitchen, looks for what it wants to eat that morning and then prepares breakfast. How it gets into the car and drives to work, how it performs all sorts of daily functions, then comes home, perhaps relaxes, perhaps goes to the gym, perhaps has a bath. Have you ever stopped to notice how the body simply does all these things that is has learned to do?

And whilst the body was doing what it does, were you aware of thoughts coming and going? Thoughts such as what would you wear today, would you get to work on time, why does your head ache, it’s not very warm, what am I going to do tonight, I must phone mum, I could do with a holiday, that’s a nice looking man, woman, car, building, dog, jacket, handbag. What should we be doing about Afghanistan, pollution, global warming, house prices, crime. So many thoughts, coming and going, appearing and disappearing.

And whilst those thoughts did their daily thing, did you notice the feelings and emotions that went along with them? Happy, sad, angry, frustrated, resentful, despairing, lonely, joyful, proud, contented, confident, hopeful, determined, aggressive, relaxed, pensive, guilty, resigned, detached, wary, empowered, weak, nostalgic, enthusiastic, expectant. So many emotions, so many feelings, all coming and going, appearing and disappearing.

When we stop, just for a moment, and notice what’s going on, we can see that the body is naturally doing whatever it has learned to do, random thoughts are popping in and out of awareness just as they usually do, emotions and feelings, likewise, are spontaneously coming and going. Life – the experience of now - is happening, just as it always does.

All this habitual activity - physical, mental and emotional – begs a fundamental question. If we are naturally aware of all these functions, thoughts and feelings, if we always notice them, not just whilst they’re happening but also when they’re not, if the only thing that remains constant whether they are active or inactive is our awareness, then who are we? Are we the body, thoughts, feelings and emotions, or are we the awareness in which they are all experienced? Are we this collection of characteristics we have unquestioningly always though of as ‘us’, or are we the awareness in which this character is experienced?

As this question resonates, and you start to notice those human elements going about their business, you may get a sense of being that space in which all this is occurring. You may start to recognize yourself as the cinema in which this film is playing rather than the person in the film. You may start to realize that what you are cannot be defined in terms of form or function – it simply IS. No beginning, no end, no identity, just pure awareness. The space in which all the elements that you have always thought of as ‘you’ appear.

As long as we identify with the body and the mind and the thoughts and feelings they produce, we will always see ourselves as separate beings – me over here with all my characteristics, you over there with all of yours and them over there with all of theirs. Me with my beliefs, you with yours and them with theirs. If our absolute conviction is that our identity – this bunch of unconsciously learned actions, behaviors and responses – is who we are, then we will naturally focus on the differences between us and continue to fight in an unwitting attempt to preserve our sense of self – the illusion we know as ‘us’.

All conflict - be it between two people, two countries, two sets of beliefs - comes about as a result of us thinking that this identity we show to the world is who we are. And because we think it is who we are, it gives definition and foundation to our entire existence, so we automatically defend it, we argue over it, we kill for it. We kill to defend our differences.

The purpose of this site, is not just to make you aware of your body’s unconscious patterns, but in the process to make you aware that you are awareness itself. As your body’s patterns are recognized and naturally dissolve, all that remains is the truth of who you are – awareness. In that truth, free from differences, relationships are built on love.