I've run into the question "without referencing the past or future, who am I?" It's a challenge to sit with. The tendency to go into thought, even subtle ones, is so persistent!
I've run into the question "without referencing the past or future, who am I?" It's a challenge to sit with. The tendency to go into thought, even subtle ones, is so persistent!
yes, yes! at the end of the day, I want to design my life in a way such that it is in line with whatever I am, past/future/self-talk aside, but figuring out what that is has been quite difficult...
I suspect that such a life cannot be designed, but has to be allowed to emerge organically. I'm working on that approach and it's quite a fascinating path
I will think about it and try to figure out how to express it.
The short of it is that I think our "true nature" is inarticulable and distinct, that each person's capital-S self is in itself a unique expression of something beyond form. Maybe to put it more simply, there's a core inside us that gets expressed *through* our personalities, but is not our personalities any more than the pixels on a screen are the image they represent.
The process of self-inquiry seems to be a combination of emotional processing, deconditioning, and identity deconstruction, all of which helps us get in closer, more tangible touch with that ineffable nature. The closer we get, the harder it is to describe, but the more obviously real it is. Maybe we can think of it like an electron. It doesn't have a definite velocity, position, or extent, but it can very clearly interact with the world around us.
As I see it, my work is not to try to articulate or define this "Self," but to stand back and let the wind and the waves chip away everything that stands between its pure expression and reality. I can't say if that journey will ever end, except at death, but I also can't see why I'd want it to.
Everything else becomes a byproduct of this process. My work, my relationships, my entire life... it's all about getting closer to this. Nothing else *really* matters. By moving in this direction, I like to think I am able to gently nudge other people towards themselves, too.
I've run into the question "without referencing the past or future, who am I?" It's a challenge to sit with. The tendency to go into thought, even subtle ones, is so persistent!
yes, yes! at the end of the day, I want to design my life in a way such that it is in line with whatever I am, past/future/self-talk aside, but figuring out what that is has been quite difficult...
Same!
I suspect that such a life cannot be designed, but has to be allowed to emerge organically. I'm working on that approach and it's quite a fascinating path
oh interesting. say more?
has your strawberry garden helped? :)
Mmm....so much to say on the topic!
I will think about it and try to figure out how to express it.
The short of it is that I think our "true nature" is inarticulable and distinct, that each person's capital-S self is in itself a unique expression of something beyond form. Maybe to put it more simply, there's a core inside us that gets expressed *through* our personalities, but is not our personalities any more than the pixels on a screen are the image they represent.
The process of self-inquiry seems to be a combination of emotional processing, deconditioning, and identity deconstruction, all of which helps us get in closer, more tangible touch with that ineffable nature. The closer we get, the harder it is to describe, but the more obviously real it is. Maybe we can think of it like an electron. It doesn't have a definite velocity, position, or extent, but it can very clearly interact with the world around us.
As I see it, my work is not to try to articulate or define this "Self," but to stand back and let the wind and the waves chip away everything that stands between its pure expression and reality. I can't say if that journey will ever end, except at death, but I also can't see why I'd want it to.
Everything else becomes a byproduct of this process. My work, my relationships, my entire life... it's all about getting closer to this. Nothing else *really* matters. By moving in this direction, I like to think I am able to gently nudge other people towards themselves, too.