Discovering your Real Identity
What is your essence? Is it matter—a mere collection of material atoms and molecules? Or is it something else?
“Who am I?” Maybe you’ve never even asked yourself this question. You might think you already know who you are. Unfortunately, however, it’s likely that you don’t know who you are at all. And if you don’t know your real identity, you’re in trouble. You’ll spend your life in a kind of dream state—you’ll falsely identify yourself as something or someone you aren’t. Then, on the basis of this false identification, you’ll determine the goals of your life and the purpose of your existence. You use these goals to gauge whether you are making “progress” in life, whether you are a “success.” And you are aided and abetted in this delusion by a complex network of relationships with other dreamers. Of course, at death (and sometimes before), the whole thing turns into a nightmare.
So knowing who you are is a very practical necessity. The question “Who am I?” is not a philosophical football meant to be kicked around coffeehouses by pseudo-intellectuals. It’s a real-life question. Nothing is more important and more relevant than to know who you are.
Siddhaswarupananda
The Search for Perfect Wisdom
The search for wisdom is a great challenge; to act on wisdom is an even greater challenge. To accept that you are spiritual in essence, that you are an eternal spark of life force, is to open the door on a whole new life. There are many questions now, and there will be many more questions ahead. There are many internal and external pressures against accepting and acting on this truth, and there will be even greater pressures in the future. So yes, it is challenging—just like running the Boston marathon is challenging, or trying to climb Mt. Everest is challenging. But unlike such “sporting,” “part-time” challenges, the search for perfect wisdom and the attempt to live by such wisdom is an ongoing eternal challenge—and it is real. Thus, only the most courageous people will actually accept this challenge. The ignorant, the fearful, and the lazy will remain as they are.
Siddhaswarupananda
History has shown us that our tendency to colonize and exploit other regions has always backfired. This planet can be made a happier, more peaceful place to live in, but the change will have to come from within the hearts of all of us living here.
Siddhaswarupananda
