Do you know who you really are ???

[gogodoll]

if we assume that our ego is just an illusion , if we believe that our body is just a dress that we are wearing for now, then who do you think we really are? pure consciousness? just an observer ?purely made of and part of universal energy? share your thoughts with me please.

[EbbTide000]

When I was about 13 Mum and I found group that had meetings every night and we meditated an hour before sleep and an hour after waking. I became convinced that a human's job, on Earth, was to seek Truth, and merge with G.O.D. ( the Generator, Operator and Destroyer of life) One day I was skipping and dancing to music on my record-player when I got an urge to "go meditate". I shook it off cos I was enjoying the music too much. When the urge came a second time and I felt that if I ignore it again I might not get a third urge and this might be important, so I went to mums bedroom. I lay on her bed and got an urge to "sit up!" but I was lazy and ignored it. There were no more "urges" *IT* just began. It was 1975 and I Was 15/16. I quickly got physically smaller. It felt like my body was going backward in time. My body (me) was 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, nine months, eight months, seven months, six months, five months, four months, three months, two months, one month, concieved. Then nothing or may by "i" kept getting smaller but had no memory banks to hold the memory in. Next there was the awarenes of movement. then forward movement. Then sight, clear light ... with visible wobbly bubbles in the bright clear light. (decades later I would call them cells with just cell wall and clear-fluid inside). Then there was a wobble and I was an "I" a "me". before the wobble there was consciousness without an awareness of a "me". Decadrs later I realised that the "wobble" was egoless consciousness entering one of those wobbly bubbles (animal cells) and instantly becoming a separate "entity" from the ocean of pure consciousness. There was more but I'll leave it at that fore now. Before the very first incarnation into the very first animal cell. There is pure consciousness. (imo)

[Supernova]

It's not going to affect me until my body dies, so I don't much care to know now. Your turn: is the above statement foolish or wise?

[gogodoll]

Supernova if you didn't care you wouldn't be a member at this forum and you wouldn't reply to my question to begin with so i think you care.

[oldbill]

Well id say i have no real idea, bit of a mystery really.

[Original Poster]

When you attempt to explain what you are, you only manage to explain what you are not. The abstract concepts and symbols to explain pure consciousness are just that, and confusing what you are with your explanation of what you are, you may as well carry the same attitude as Supernova. Whether I'm a soul or a consciousness, such things are irrelevant until I die. For knowing what you are to become relevant in life, you must move beyond the symbols and tap into the reality of yourself. Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth. Far better than figuring out what you are is learning what you are not and simply being the remainder. That is liberation.

[Original Poster]

I still can't edit We carry these useless statements around constantly and behave according to them. We carry agreements around such as "I'm male" or "I'm female" or "I'm straight" or "I'm gay" and while they can help you describe yourself to others, the essence of you is not any of those things. To discover what you are, you must first use skepticism regarding all the thoughts and beliefs you used to take for granted. We play a constant game, justifying our actions by asking ourselves if it was in accordance to our character or identity. We narrow our own possibilities and cut off our own potential by creating this fabricated identity. All day long we think thoughts about ourselves, and that's fine. But with every thought about you and the world, there needs to be a reminder in the back of your head that it's just a thought, and it's not truth.

[SilverJay]

I'm Christian by faith, and to know who I really am.. Hmm. Well, first.. Who are we? Why are we ourselves? Why not a different physical Character? Are we a reflections of our thoughts, perception, influence, education, and experience? Are we what we -want- to be? Well, inside the shell of this body, I still believe I am, me. Perhaps, our Physical appearance is meant to be the appearance of our thoughts on the surface, then corrupted by the three Towers: Greed, Power, Lust. Hmm.. To sum it up, my personal opinion is that, who I really am without the shell; is Me, What Represents me, the Perfected form of my now Physical body. Made perfected, and mixed with the thoughs, and being a window to my personality. My personality=Me. Just my thoughts.

[tropicalbreeze]

right now I am thirsty

[EbbTide000]

ok gogodoll (Supernova, Oldbill, Original Poster, SilverJay and Tropicalbreeze) the experience moved on from being inside the wobbly bubble (biological cell). There was a short dream where 3 young men in light pink, Mahatma robes, were sitting in a transperant, small, glass caravan. In a Square in front of the Cairns (North Queensland, Australia) City Hall. They were looking at me. Then one said, "Hey! she's one of us." He came out of the little caravan, walked up to me and gently kissed me on my right cheek. Then there was bright nothing. Then in this bright nothing I had a thought. I said, out loud, to myself: "This is Truth" A man's gentle yet firm deep voice behind my left shoulder said, "No, ... This is not Truth" Then a gentle Telepathic (non-verbal) wave of understanding washed over me and I understood that Truth had happened, moments before, but Truth does not fit into any memory-banks so Truth can never be remembered. I did not have any emotions in this high, high, state, only clarity. But I was not expecting an answer to my statement "this is Truth" so I was mildly suprised. After a while I thought again and I said, "I am God" The warm male voice behind my left shoulder said, "No, ... You are not God" then very softly added, "I am" and with that a wave of understanding washed over me that regardless of what I believe, I am not God, I have never been God, and I will never be God. I was very still and quiet in every way again. Then I had a third thought. And I said out loud to myself, "What's the Purpose" again I wasn't expecting an answer. It was just that I had believed that God was just an energy. God didn't have a personality or vocal cords. I believed a human's only task was to seek Truth and merge with THAT energy. With the voice gently contradicting me (No, this is not Truth. No, you are not God) I was left with no purpose. So I quietly and reflectively asked myself, out loud, "What's the Purpose" And the voice spoke for a third and final time and said, "I brought you into being to serve you" Then a third and final wave of (none-verbal, telypathic) understanding washed over me and I understood that: "From my point of view, Debra, there is only the two of us in existance. You are at the center of my Universe and I am everything else (including your body and all that you think you are) lovingly obeying (serving) you, Debra." Then Mum calls to me from the kitchen. "Debbie" My eyes spring open. I wasn't asleep. the reason the urge came, saying "sit up" just before this ENLIGHTENMENT got under way, was because it was important for me to face the fact that this was No Dream. There is more because this was full-blown ENLIGHTENMENT. but I'll leave it there. 'Do You know Who You Really Are ???' Yes

[oldbill]

So you are an actress? Cool, whats the plot?

[Carrot]

if we assume that our ego is just an illusion The thing that made us think that our ego is an illusion.

[gogodoll]

"From my point of view, Debra, there is only the two of us in existence. You are at the center of my Universe and I am everything else (including your body and all that you think you are) lovingly obeying (serving) you" wow this is sooo deep Debra, so meaningful, i enjoyed reading your experience.

[gogodoll]

Buddhism teaches us anatta: the doctrine of no-self. The thought without the thinker. you’ are a disembodied thought. An immortal thought. this very thought that u r thinking right now , so when tropical breeze says i am thirsty , there is a truth to that.

[EbbTide000]

Buddhism teaches us anatta: the doctrine of no-self. The thought without the thinker. you’ are a disembodied thought. An immortal thought. this very thought that u r thinking right now , so when tropical breeze says i am thirsty , there is a truth to that. That (the above) is very useful for me gogodoll also From post #9 of this 2007 thread. by NonDualisticTo me the label is only necesary in order to identify the actual experience I am having for the means to communicate via language so I can ask questions when the need should arise. I am beginning to see why the Dzogchen masters speak of direct transmission being necesary to Know something essential. My gratitude to you for your input. http://www.dreamviews.com/f19/obe-nd...-please-45169/ NonDualistic Thanx for "liking". We seem to be on the same page. I have just begun reading your threads. Love what I've read so far. Just thought I'd let you know NonDualistic.

[NonDualistic]

Debrajane Equally loved Equally appreciated Are these writings of yours A timely rope to pull one from the mud

[NonDualistic]

Debrajane Equally loved Equally appreciated Are these writings of yours A timely rope to pull one from the mud

[Dannon Oneironaut]

Nice! Buddhism teaches the doctrine of no-self (anatta)... Do you know who you really are ??? if we assume that our ego is just an illusion , if we believe that our body is just a dress that we are wearing for now, then who do you think we really are? pure consciousness? just an observer ?purely made of and part of universal energy? share your thoughts with me please. If you remove the layers of an onion one by one, you get down to the core. Remove that last layer, and what is left? Nothing or everything? Or both? Now do that with yourself in direct experience and you will find the same thing! That is what I am! It is our absence which unites us. If you were to look into my eyes now and suspend thoughts for a few moments, you would see yourself (the living emptiness) looking back at you! But please don't take my word for it. Remove all the layers possible (analytic inquiry) until you come to the sense of self. That is the core of the onion. Remove that and you are free! It is simple!

[tsiouz]

Do you know who you really are ??? I used to. Until the accident.

[JoannaB]

Well, I know that I am a mystery to myself, and yet I am the one who understands me the best with the exception of God who I suppose knows me better, although sometimes I am not sure about that because while i do believe he is all knowing, but being a Christian I believe his only experience at actually being human was as a man, and as a woman I know that men do not usually "get" women while they think they do, so what if God also thinks that he can now understand women based on his experience as a man, and of course being God he cannot be wrong by definition, but my father was never wrong either when I grew up if you asked him.

[Original Poster]

Well, I know that I am a mystery to myself, and yet I am the one who understands me the best with the exception of God who I suppose knows me better, although sometimes I am not sure about that because while i do believe he is all knowing, but being a Christian I believe his only experience at actually being human was as a man, and as a woman I know that men do not usually "get" women while they think they do, so what if God also thinks that he can now understand women based on his experience as a man, and of course being God he cannot be wrong by definition, but my father was never wrong either when I grew up if you asked him. I would argue that you do not know yourself better than anyone else. You are dealing with a reflection of yourself, just like they are.

[JoannaB]

I would argue that you do not know yourself better than anyone else. You are dealing with a reflection of yourself, just like they are. I have access to a more complete set of my experience memories than anyone else including memories of what I do when I am on my own, and I have access to my own thoughts which no other human being has access to. Therefore, even though my understanding of myself is incomplete, I have more data points to base my understanding of myself on than any other human being does. Therefore, I can for example interpret my own dreams much more accurately than anyone else can, even though of course I also have blinders on and do not see myself clearly, but someone else cannot tell me that they understand me as well or better than I understand myself - if they claim that, I say that they are wrong, and I have more evidence to back up my claims about myself than they do.

[Dannon Oneironaut]

These are just some thoughts: Memories are like dreams. In this present moment we are all the same, we all know what we are, it is the same awareness looking out our eyes that it has always been as a child, as a baby, as an old man. We all know what we are. But we haven't really looked at it enough. We take it for granted. It is funny that what we take for granted is actually what we are looking for. At first glance it seems so obvious and like "so what?". But we can realize that we are the love that we are looking for, we are the divine that we are looking for, etc.... This whole thing gets projected outwards in this dream experience in time of living on planet earth trying to be happy. The story ends when we come back to ourselves and find it. It is always waiting here right now. Spiritual seeking is just a way to keep the story going and postponing finding the treasure, because we like the story and we have a lot invested in the story we don't want it to end. But when the desire for the story to end overcomes the desire to keep it going, here you are waiting for yourself.

[Alric]

I don't believe your ego is an illusion. Why would you just assume that? You are a collection of thought patterns and memories that make up your brain. Who and what you are might be fleeting but that doesn't make you any less real.

[Karloky]

I have no idea. I feel really lost and I don't really know what is my place in this world. I don't know what is the purpose of my miserable life.