Who Are You Really? (WD)

 

As you get comfortable with this new way of seeing yourself, ask yourself the following question: If no one told me who I was, who would I be? Quietly meditate on this by spending some time in the spaciousness of not knowing. Imagine that your subconscious mind is nonexistent and there is no storage receptacle for excuses during your life. There’s just an open and inviting clear space inside of you—a tabula rasa, or blank slate, with a magical surface that nothing adheres to. You might imagine that your everyday conscious mind simply doesn’t absorb the opinions of the folks you grew up with. In this little fantasy, there’s never been anyone telling you who you are. So who are you? When I did this exercise, I found that my answer to the above question was quite simply: I would be anything that I, and only I, decided to be in this moment and all future moments. As the song goes, “I’ve gotta be me,” and that means jettisoning all of the excuses I’ve accumulated. My habitual life wouldn’t be based upon anyone’s early programming, since there wouldn’t be anyone who ever told me who I am. Or, as the Tao teaches: Look to nature for your sustenance. Look to the great mysterious Tao [God] that does nothing and leaves nothing undone. Observe how the entire universe and all of these beautiful Tao-centered creatures work. Tao-centered creatures allow. They trust. They live here in the present moment and, most assuredly, they have no need for any excuses.