snowheight wrote:
You're describing the correspondence from the outside in, and that's certainly a facet of what's unfolding, but what I was referring to specifically in that quoted fragment was an internal dialog.
That aspect of self-inquiry which recognizes the false as false results in definitive statements: for example "I am not my gender, I am not my age... " etc.
The felt and shared sense of oneness with being is a great pointer for sure, but there is another aspect of the inquiry that ultimately escapes direct expression with ideas. That's why there is the resort to the indirect expressions ... the pointing. This is where the notion of the subjectivity of perception and the uniqueness of expression become relevant, because noone can reach this facet of the inquiry for anyone else. There is no definitive, collective, final answer to "who am I?", and the question will be asked for as long as there are peeps to ask it.
I'd agree that there is no definitive answer to 'who am I'. I find the 'who am I' inquiry to no longer be overly helpful in my own experience anyway. Instead, I've chosen to utilize my everyday experience and observe my own reactions to everyday situations, as there are relationships everywhere, in every second, and I can see when I am resisting or fighting to control a situation and I love myself enough to not beat myself up anymore over this when my perspective is less narrow.
The observation of thoughts/emotions/feelings/sensations has allowed me to see that I am not
merely just one of these which is where Eckhart's teachings were life changing for me.
Yet,
who I am as you and I discuss here, is just another definition or label of course. Granted, we do need concepts to communicate with each other here. So,
Being is the closest I can come to even nipping that, which I am, or perhaps, I can merely just say that.....I AM. And what it is that I AM, can change in any moment by what I perceive myself to be via my own beliefs. Ultimately, definitions and concepts aside, I merely.....just AM. AMness. Sometimes, my perspective is mistaken (as I was with one of your earlier posts if you remember), and due to a previous bias, I will perceive in a certain way which merely is my own limited perspective based on my own experiences/conditioning/biases, while, other times, it's much more encompassing and embracing and less limited and I gain a greater picture on reality. It's just Awareness. Whether my own perspective within Awareness, can be expanded to a less limited perspective, is merely within my own capacity, to understand, embrace and love, that which I am not familiar with. When I am able to embrace the larger perspective, I am more aligned with Love itself. At times I can (more so recently) and at times I still can't.
I'm off track now. Sorry. Anyway, who am I? I AM
that I AM as cliche as that is. And what '
that' is, is entirely up to whatever I perceive myself to be. Am I
just a body/mind? Or am I reality itself? I'm both. I am a body/mind and I am reality. Ultimately, neither right/wrong. Just more limited, or less limited.
Just my take.