Who Am I?

Ramana Marshi, a great teacher in the yoga tradition, said that to attain inner freedom one must continually ask the question, “Who am I?”

Gangaji, in her book, The Diamond in Your Pocket – Discovering Your True Radiance, says, “The most important question you will ever ask yourself is, “Who am I?”  You may listen to an excerpt from the book by clicking the following link: Gangaji

Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now and A New Earth shares his story of awakening when one day he heard himself say, “I can no longer live with myself.”  As he heard himself speak those words, he wondered, “Who is the ‘I’ and who is the ‘self’ that ‘I’ can no longer live with?”  Thus began his journey to discovering his truth and claiming his freedom.

Who are you, really?  We often define ourselves by our bodies, whether we are male or female; tall or short; young or old.  We also describe ourselves according to our emotional state at any given moment; i.e., “I am angry.”   Perhaps most commonly we label ourselves according to the roles we play in life, as in, “I am a mother,” or “I am an accountant.”  In keeping with our social norms, when asked, “Who are you?” we most often respond by giving our name, occupation, or by sharing some aspect of our life experience to which the questioner can readily relate.   

The ‘self’ to which Tolle referred is comprised of all of those labels; however, none of them can define who we truly are.  Our true Self is changeless and eternal.  It can best be understood as ‘awareness,’ that which is aware of the body, emotional state, and the roles we play at any point in time.  Gangaji says, “You are awareness and awareness is consciousness.” The consciousness that was aware of the body, the mind and the emotions at age ten is the same consciousness that is aware of the body, the mind, and the emotions today.  While all of those external conditions change, consciousness remains constant. 

Tolle expounds on this truth in the forward to Gangaji’s book. He says, 

“Know the truth and the truth shall set you free.’ These words spoken by Jesus refer not to some conceptual truth, but to the truth of who you are beyond name and form. They refer not to something that you need to know about yourself, but a deeper, yet extraordinarily simple knowing, in which the knower and the known merge into one.I am not what happens, but the space in which it happens.  This knowing, this living truth, frees you from identification with form, from time, as well as from a false, mind-made sense of self.  What is that space in which everything happens? Consciousness prior to form.”

There is a common teaching in New Thought that warns against using the words, “I am” to proclaim anything that one does not desire, and encourages the use of “I am” solely to begin an affirmative statement in order to align with what is desired.   For example, the instruction is to not say “I am sick” for fear of claiming sickness and manifesting it, but instead to say, “I am healthy” in order to claim the truth and manifest it accordingly.  In truth, both sickness and health are conditions and are therefore subject to change.  Because all conditions are varying, none can define the true Self, not even those we consider favorable.  It matters not how one uses the words “I am” because it is simply a statement of a temporary state of mind.  Awareness cannot be identified with any thought, emotion, bodily experience, or concept, whether desired or not. 

As an experiment to experience the freedom inherent in this knowing, rather than using “I am” to define a present reality, thereby identifying with it, instead try using “I am aware…”  For example, “I am aware of a physical discomfort,” or “I am aware that the body is experiencing a fever,” or “I am aware that my body feels energized and clear.”  When we affirm “I am aware…” rather than “I am…” we remove the attention from the condition and focus on awareness itself, the only reality of being; that which is immutable and eternal. 

Perhaps in addition to contemplating the question “Who am I?” we might also benefit from contemplating the question, “What is my awareness in the moment?”  True freedom lies in discovering and living the answers.