You were taught how to think, what to think, how to be and act, etc. This programming concealed your real identity. Inevitably, over time, one layer, after another, of your "make-up", in the form of thoughts, concepts and imagination, succeeded in obscuring your true identity. In time, you forgot about your innocent and spontaneous nature; you forgot about your Essence. 

 

Becoming aware of the add-ons or superimpositions to one’s original nature is the first step. Undoing and freeing oneself from all the add-ons is the next step.

  

We are not separate individuals, but formless, Spontaneous Presence, all part of the same Essence. The crux of the subject matter is that we are essentially Spirit Beings. We have always existed, and we will always exist. Our identification with the body-form has kept us ignorant, deluding us into thinking that we are unique individuals. We perceive ourselves as different from each other when it is only the body-form and pseudo-identity that differ.

  

Everything we have ever learned and known is worldly knowledge, body-based knowledge,  add-ons or superimpositions that were not there before our manifestation in the body-form, and are, therefore,  not part of our true identity. Worldly knowledge applies to everything that gives structure to our lives: work, relationships, values, concepts, intellectual, emotional, psychological, philosophical, political, religious views, etc. Questioning our identity is the wake-up call that will help us see ourselves from a different perspective.

  

Who am I? This fundamental question awaits an answer, and yet, this crucial, burning question is excluded from popular bucket lists. Who are you? One of the many dreams on your bucket list? But to whom does this bucket list belong? Do you know?

  

You want to go swimming with the dolphins, or maybe you wish to visit the Himalayas, or even fly in a hot air balloon. That would be awesome! You may have travelled the world and visited many different countries, but have you visited yourself? Visit the visitor! Who is the traveller? Who is the visitor that is visiting all these exotic countries? Do you know?

  

You want to read the best-selling books, maybe the vast range of "Mind Body Spirit" books, but do you know who the reader is? Who wants to read these books? Who is the reader? You have not read the reader. Why not shift your focus and turn it 180 degrees around? Turn your attention towards yourself and go within. It is only by looking within that you will find out who you are. Open your book and read your own story!

  

When we turn inwards, we will discover that there is much more to us than our acquired, second-hand values. 

  

We took a wrong turning which programmed us to identify with the changing, the impermanent, in other words, with our imaginary identity. Deprogramming and listening afresh will correct the error and help us identify with our real identity.