Consider your answer to the following questions: Who is it that experiences suffering? You might say me, the person reading these words on the screen. But who is me? Point to this person.
You will naturally point to your chest. But what makes you sure the ‘me’ you know is located in your chest? I don’t mean to inundate you with riddles, but I’m trying to point out that who we are is not entirely correct.
The image of ourselves is a self-constructed narrative. It is not wrong because we need self-identification to make sense of ourselves. However, it is one part of the narrative of who we really are. In identifying with the egoic self, our thoughts become an extension of who we are.
We might say: “I am angry” or “I am sad” but this is a label attached to emotions that are transient. If repeated, our mind identifies with it because we have trained it through repetitive thoughts. Moreover, we intensify our suffering by the pain created by these emotions.
Therefore, you are not your emotions but the pure awareness and consciousness behind them. To overcome suffering requires welcoming negative emotions and observing them through pure awareness, instead of localizing it in the mind.
To test this idea, I want you to try something. Ask yourself the following question: “Am I aware?” Don’t answer try to answer the question but observe the peaceful state coalescing in and outside your field of awareness.
The veil of the egoic mind tries to hijack this knowingness and obscures pure awareness. This is because the ego needs a voice, however, its intentions are not entirely honourable.
