Who am I?

To reach the heights of peace, love and joy of which the human being is capable, it is said that we need to step back regularly into a state of “no self”, or pure being, beyond thought and feeling.

- NEVILLE HODGKINSON

The question “Who am I?” lies at the heart of most traditions of spiritual understanding and inquiry.

Some teachings emphasise that we find the deepest reality when we lose all sense of the self as an individual entity. This is based on the idea that our individuality (our “ego self”) emerges from the package of thoughts and feelings with which our brains become equipped to enable us to live as human beings. It enables us to engage with one another in distinctive ways while we play our parts on the stage of the world, but it is also the source of suffering, because it pins our sense of who we are and what we want into the physical dimension, which is constantly changing.

The aim is to go beyond surface appearances in our self-understanding, and engage with the core of our being. When the mind becomes still, unlimited love, peace, joy, and timeless wisdom are to be found. Those who experience this state - sometimes accidentally, sometimes through intense spiritual effort - find it liberating, and uplifting. It makes everyday worries shrink into insignificance.