Ask yourself this question: “Who am I?” Your answer probably contains descriptions or categories that refer to the various roles that you play in life. You might also include your thoughts, behaviors or feelings that you experience while performing those roles. If you say that you are a ‘husband’ or a ‘wife’ or an ‘employee’ or an ‘employer,’ you are merely using a label to refer to the functions you perform on a daily basis. But, does that really summarize what you actually are? Aren’t you much more than just a couple of roles or descriptions of functions? Yes, if you filter away all the labels and duties and responsibilities, you will find that your experience forms the basis for most of those things. And your experience is the sum total of all the inputs you receive through your five senses: seeing, hearing, touch, taste and smell. You are constantly filtering the inputs that you are receiving from the external world as well as the internal conscious self. Your awareness of all the inputs that you receive – both external and internal, together forms an identity which you call ‘me.’ Understanding this is the first step towards increasing your consciousness.
Most of your responses to various external stimuli are as a result of your past experiences and behavioral patterns which you have learned over a period of time. Every time you are about to do something, one part of your inner self might be prodding you to go ahead and do it while another part inside you might be cautioning you to refrain from doing it. These voices that happen inside you actually create and control your feelings, thoughts and behaviors; sometimes we may not even be aware that those voices exist! The combination of these voices results in what you call as “I”.
The “I” that we refer to is the ‘ego.’ When someone says or does something that is not to your liking, the part of you that gets irritated or disappointed or hurt is this ‘ego.’ Your ego prefers to act like a unique and special individual. Your ego wants you to be always right and hence categorizes others as wrong at times! Your ego encourages you to work towards acquiring things that are considered important in society, like success, fame, money, wealth, health, etc. When you say ‘This is my hand,’ or ‘this is my leg,’ it is evident that there is something different and separate from the body. And that is your consciousness. Your consciousness is the gateway through which you have been observing and looking at this world right from the moment you were born. This awareness is not temporary, it does not disappear – it is infinite, and doesn’t change. It is beyond the ‘me’ or the ‘ego,’ and hence if you are aware of this higher level of consciousness, life on this earth becomes very different as you will find that there are no longer any attachments to life being a certain way. You will realize that identification with the ego is no longer essential and that your existence is just a part of the larger flow of the consciousness all around you. This is true freedom!
