Alberto García 🚀🚀🚀

This quote blew my mind.

The danger of spirituality is that sometimes it gets you into rabbit holes that are impossible to get out of.

That happened to me last night after reading this quote by Michael Singer.

To achieve inner liberation, one must continually and sincerely ask oneself: “Who am I? Ramana Maharshi taught that this question was more important than reading books, reciting mantras, or going on pilgrimage to holy places.

Michael opens chapter 3 of his book The Untethered Soul. And then, he reflects on the theme “Who am I.”

The thing is that I read the whole chapter, and I went to prepare my dinner — some delicious spaghetti with tomato — and while I was cooking, my mind kept repeating, “Who am I”?

WTF!!! My mind wouldn’t stop.

I started watching Netflix while I ate dinner, and my brain kept reciting the f*cking “Who am I?” mantra.

I started doing Shikantaza (traditional zen meditation) before going to bed, and my mind was unable to quiet down, “Who am I?”, “Who am I?”, “Who am I?”, “Who am I?”.

I went to sleep and found no peace, so with eyes like saucers staring at the ceiling, I asked myself the damn question.

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“Who am I?”

I had read Michael’s thoughts on the subject a few hours earlier.

And it was clear to me that I am not my thoughts, for when I meditate, I do not think and continue to exist.

Nor am I my labels: writer, son, engineer, brother, Spiderman 🙂

Nor am I the objects around me (although I like to identify myself with a teddy bear because I am adorable 🙂

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“Who the f*ck am I?”

Doing the opposite of what Michael suggests in the book (I’m a rebel :-), I start identifying with everything I’m not to see why you, me, and people identify with their titles, possessions, identities, personalities, opinions, thoughts, etc.

Why do we identify with things?

I identify with my football team to find my tribe and have a sense of belonging.

I identify with my job so I can explain to others how I contribute to society.

I identify with the clothes I wear to indicate what kind of personality I have.

I identify with my material possessions and university degrees so that people know what socio-cultural and economic status I have.

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And why do I do all of the above?

I identify myself to differentiate myself from others. Because I am unique and special, and I want everyone to know it 🙂

At about 3 a.m., this narcissistic thought woke me up, and I started to list why I wanted to stand out in society.

• To understand me.
• To be accepted by others.
• For pure survival.
• To flirt.

On top of that, I wrote the following, and it gave me goosebumps.

The clothes I wear indicate what kind of music I like, but also what kind of income I have. And therefore it attracts certain types of people, and above all it DISSuades other people from approaching me.

Wow, I first learned that I was more of an asshole than I thought I was.

And the second thing… Who I am.

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The answer to the Ramana Maharshi question

At about 4 a.m., my brain began to interrogate me mercilessly. 
It went like this,

“Who are you?”

— I am a soul locked in a body seeking acceptance from others.

“Why?”

— Because I don’t want to be alone.

“Why?”

— Because I want to feel loved.

“Why?”

— Because love is the natural state of being.

“Why do you know?”

— Because I AM THE BEING, the watcher, the observer, the presence behind this world of illusions. And I seek to reunite with the whole.

Bingo!

And after that, I went to sleep.

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Takeaway

As Michael Singer says, “One day, you’ll reach so deep inside yourself that you’ll realize that’s where you’ve always really been.”

It happened to me last night. And I finally understood who I was. It will happen to you, too; you have to ask yourself from time to time, “Who am I?”

A virtual hug

AG