Where does who you are reside?

Who are you?

How could I ever know?

So the question turns to, “Who am I?”

Am I contained within my body?

Or does my identity exist across fields of experience or as an ever-changing pattern that defies being known?

Perhaps there is a moment in each of our lives when we recognize our consciousness and begin our lives the same way: realizing that “I am” and nothing more. Consciousness without content. Perhaps that is the only time human beings as a collective are “one.” We are all “turned on” in the exact same way.

Suddenly, I am.

There are no words. We just know it to be true. Our self-awareness is our first discovery, our first knowledge that centers itself in the vastness of all that is to come.

That first discovery is not one of race, gender, or miracles. It just is. Suddenly, I am, but without the understanding of my shape and colour, without having a language because I have yet to recognize a thought, much less form an idea.

Throughout my life I have had this sense of presence within. I am the presence that has, itself, never wavered, never changed. It’s like a constant beam inside that shines into the darkness of tomorrow. It was there when you were eight years old and on your fortieth birthday, there it was, that unchanging presence that accompanies you constantly, has no ability to judge you or influence your expression of self.

Who I am is not about my identity.

Who I am is, Suddenly, I am.”

Something sparked inside us and we experienced, Suddenly, I am.

That’s our one truth. It is an experience we share and create over and over and over again.

All that happens next informs our identity. We learn how to process information and problem solve. We form values based on the experience of the values of those we trust or could not avoid.

Suddenly I am!  Suddenly you are, too! And him and her!

I may reside inside myself but we reside in one another.

And that’s fodder for another blog post, another time.