Who Am I? One question, many answers! Are we this personality that we identify with, a bundle of likes and dislikes? Or are we this body, which isn’t much more than an assimilation of the food that we have borrowed from Mother Earth.
We seem to be border-line obsessed with individuality, protecting our tastes, our perceptions, our view of the world, like it was the only thing that mattered. Glorifying that rebellious streak, that non-conformist within which wants to do things on its own terms.
We identify perhaps with this carefully curated identity, but then can anyone of us attest to the endurance of this identity. Is what you like today guaranteed to stay the same in 5 years, or even next year!?
The truth is that we are constantly changing, on multiple levels. On a physical level, we regenerate about 330 billion cells, or 1 per cent of ourselves every day. So, by the time the Earth goes around the Sun once, we have already turned over thrice! On a mental or emotional level, of course, our tastes and relationships also change, evolving one would hope! And many times, a day, we deftly switch between the roles of being a parent, a child, an employee, and so many more.
Why then are we so attached to this sense of beingness, the I-ness and the my-ness? Why this identification with every little thing we do? Why do we grip the steering wheel of life so tight, that there is almost no room for manoeuvring, as we drive on a seemingly pre-ordained path. Resistance in the face of so much change is futile.
When we understand this, and engage in a spiritual process like Yoga or meditation, it is critical that we wear our identities ‘loosely’ for the transformation to occur. If we are obsessively attached to our identities as we are today, it becomes a limiting belief and prevents any transformation from unfolding. It’s like going to a gym but hoping that you don’t lose any weight or don’t suddenly become healthier, it defeats the purpose!
Back to the question where we started then, who am I? Ask yourself that, and it’s like entering a spiral maze, with each answer keep peeling back the layers, until you get to the very core. Who are we all at the very core? There may not be an answer today, perhaps the best we can hope to get to when our intellect and ego run out of responses, is silence. And that’s not bad at all, for despite everything that is changing, there is a pervading silence deep within, which is eternal.
