How to Know Your True Self

Knowing the Space

Realize that you, in essence, are timeless space of consciousness or Knowing. Ask yourself "what doesn't change?". Your thoughts (which includes belief systems, interpretations and ideas) change, your emotions change, your body changes, people around you change, your surroundings change, weather changes, etc. Its very nature of forms, relationships or content to be unstable and fleeting, as they are bound to the law of impermanence . So all forms arise, change and disappear, except for the ever-present timeless space where they come and go. You are that "space" of consciousness or no-thought, where every form (internal and external), like sensations, events, sounds, people, thoughts, reactions, emotions etc. come and go. "Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go" Tao Te Ching. Take the analogy of a room: a room is made up of walls, but it's the inner space that we use. Where people and things come and go, events occur and end, etc. "We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use." Tao Te Ching. Here's another signpost: Who is aware or knows of the forms that arise and disappear in your space of consciousness? Who's looking or aware of the thoughts, emotions, reactions and sensations in your body? Who experiences the environment you are in through sense perceptions? It's the ever-present 'I Am' or "knowing" or experiencer, without which there will be no experience.

Recognize the transient nature of all forms, events and experiences. Last year's vacation, family or friends gathering, events, meetups, taste of food, possessions, short lived sexual or sensory pleasures, thoughts, emotions, sounds, tasks, physical or psychological conditions etc. Any form or experience that appears in your consciousness comes as if it's all-important and before you know it, it changes and/or disappears into the 'no-thingness' from where it came. Even if it's a chronic or permanent illness, it will disappear with your fleeting body. No form or experience or event or condition lasts. Buddha made it a central part of his teaching. He called it anicca; state of impermanence. Only the background, the ever-present awareness that is aware of the fleetingness of all forms, doesn't go through any change. You are that eternal awareness. Once you truly see the transitory and unstable nature of all forms, relationships, events and experiences, you will not give them importance and significance that they don't have. Or put impossible demands on them to fulfill you, make you happy, feel safe or tell you who you are. World of forms, the drama or the play, cannot give you those things. Suffering arises when you seek long lasting happiness, contentment and yourself in the world and mind.

See that you are lost in mind and content. You, the consciousness, are so lost in mind and content that you perceive your "self" and others as no more than fragile name and form (psychological and physical) through limited view of thinking and sense perceptions. Unaware of the vital formless dimension within. Protecting and enhancing this "false self" by adding more content, labels, relationships, comparisons, stories and experiences to it becomes your primary motive. Which strengthens the sense of separation between you and others, when there is none. As a result, thinking becomes compulsive, world is overvalued and seems more rigid which ultimately causes suffering when forms and conditions that you identify with disappear or change or taken away. Which they will. That's why Buddha said "whatever you do, wherever you go, you will encounter Dukkha (suffering)". It's because it’s the nature of forms. So as long as you are disconnected from the formless dimension within, that is to say lost in world of forms, which are ultimately thoughts in mind, suffering is inevitable. "World is not there to make you happy but to make you conscious." Eckhart Tolle. Do you think more stuff, content, knowledge, better titles or thinking is going to save the world and liberate you from suffering and dream of form? Isn't wisdom that humanity needs the most right now? Wisdom is not a product of thought but arises from the formless dimension within. You will only lose yourself in content, world, endless doing and thinking (or analysis). So doesn't matter how sharp and cultivated our minds are, how much knowledge we have, it’s ultimately going to be limited.

Realize your essence as 'Emptiness'. On a macroscopic level of the universe, even before the Big Bang, once it was emptiness. It is life in its undifferentiated state prior to its fragmentation into multiplicity. With the passage of time, different forms like stars, galaxies, planets, nebulas and so on appeared, grew, changed and then disappeared into the "no-thingness" from where they came. Suddenly space seems to be there. It's the timeless nothingness or emptiness of space where everything comes and goes that remains unchanged. Just like the 'formless awareness' that you are in essence undergoes no change. The Still depth that holds the infinite number of planets, stars, galaxies, etc. is also in you. As you are not some meaningless fragment in an alien, uncaring universe, briefly suspended between birth and death then ultimate annihilation. Underneath your name and form, you are one with the infinity of God or 'One Consciousness' or Being. To get a glimpse of the 'space of awareness' or stillness within yourself, become aware of awareness and/or feel the inner body. Read Inhabit Your Inner Body More Deeply for a deeper insight on this. "There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene, empty, solitary, unchanging, infinite, eternally present... It is the mother of the universe." Tao Te Ching.

See the common pattern in all forms. It has been hypothesized that if mass of the universe became greater than the critical density, it will begin to collapse and would become denser and hotter again, ending with a state similar to in which it started . Since you are a microcosmic reflection of the universe, can you see this on the level of your own form's (physical and psychological) birth, growth, decline and death? Consider the miracle of birth; it's the consciousness or the life that first appears in the womb and then human form begins to develop. Your body grows stronger with time and as it grows old, it becomes weak, frail, dies, turns to dust, and then nothing at all. You go back to where you came from, just a few years ago. Does it seem similar to universe and the objects in it? Can you also see the same pattern in breathing? Inhaling (expansion) and exhaling (contraction). All "things" and phenomena intrinsically follow the same pattern, expansion (growth) and contraction (decay), because they are bound to the law of impermanence.. So why seek yourself in mind (thoughts) and transient forms, and give them importance or significance that they don't have?

Know your essence. It is a fact that atoms consist of 99.999999 percent empty space. Consecutively molecules are more than 99.99 percent empty space. Scientists have confirmed that on a molecular level it is a pulsating energy frequency. Like a musical note. Consecutively all forms, things, earth and so on, are more than 99.99 percent empty space. It's the illusion created by limited view of our sense perceptions and thinking that makes the things, people and events (dance of different frequencies) seem rigid, serious and separate.. With fear and desire being inevitable consequences of this ethereal illusion. Space consciousness. Most people pay attention to the forms and objects in the space, but who pays attention to the space itself? The infinite and eternal Emptiness that is the essence of all there is and the life that contains and enables all forms to be. Perhaps space is not interesting and the mind, which only knows of content, the known, looks for interesting 'things'. Even when it looks for space, it makes the endless nothingness into an object or something filled with matter because idea or concept of forms(which are ultimately thoughts) is all it knows. Analogy: if everything around you was green, then there would be no green. There needs to be another color so that 'green' can stand out. Similarly, if there were no objects in space then there would be no space. It would be emptiness or nothingness. There need to be at least two reference points in space to measure distance, so an object can stand out.. Hence, there must be something 'unfleeting' or unchanging in order to recognize the fleetingness of all forms. Otherwise it would not be. “Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.” Tao Te Ching.

Die before you die. Death is stripping away of who you are not. While in the forest or park, have you noticed broken trees, fallen leaves, dead insects and animals, etc. facilitating the birth of new plants, grass and other organisms? What can you learn from this? Death is not the opposite of life. Life has no opposite. Death is the most natural thing there is. As natural as birth. The secret of life is to die before you die. Realizing yourself as the formless awareness behind the content of your mind and abiding in that state is 'dying before you die' or death or 'end of suffering' or enlightenment. It's because awareness is timeless and unchanging. Your essential nature. So even if all forms around you (including your body, relationships, things you have etc.) grow weak or change or disappear, your conscious presence remains unchanged. Once you see this truth, you realize that there is no death, but just a form dissolving. Why do people who have been through ‘near-death experience’ lose the fear of death? It's the journey home. Meditate upon this. "There's something in you that remains unchanging despite the transient circumstances in your life. That's the life that you are." Eckhart Tolle. "The Master gives himself up to whatever the moment brings. He knows that he is going to die, and he has nothing left to hold on to: no illusions in his mind, no resistances in his body." Tao Te Ching. Your body and forms (psychological, personality, relationships, titles, objects, skills, knowledge, stories, things etc.) that you identify with, can dissolve at any time. This is a deep and humbling realization that leaves little room for the ego.. Death will be painful as long as you cling to the illusion. That is to say, as long as you identify with forms and seek yourself in them. This doesn't mean to not have things, not use mind and body, look for relationships, enjoy experiences and pleasures of this world etc. We need to honor and appreciate the world of forms and not despise it. Realizing at the same time that no possession, thing, pleasure, relationship or experience of this world can give you long lasting fulfillment or happiness. Relinquishing identification or attachment with forms means to deeply realize that seeking fulfillment, happiness and yourself in the mind and world of forms lies at the root of suffering. Also, seeking is the antithesis of happiness.

Realize that the world is a reflection of your inner state. Have you noticed that when your inner-self is cluttered with thoughts and emotions, your external reality also becomes cluttered with forms (tasks, noise, jobs, unclean and untidy place etc.) and vice versa. Similarly, have you noticed that when you are unhappy, you attract more negative situations, conditions and people in your life. Plus, you see only negative in others, it’s because world is a reflection of your inner-state. The inner equivalent of external noise and pollution is the incessant, compulsive and often negative activity of thoughts, reactions and emotions in you. Once you see this with clarity, you start taking responsibility of your inner self. That is to say, you don't pollute your inner space with negativity. That's when external reality naturally transforms without any doing on your part because world is just a reflection of humanity's inner state. This is the miracle of |surrender. Eckhart Tolle — "If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without."

Abide in inner space. Here are some practices to become aware or abide in inner space or silence: Can you feel the inner energy field or alive 'spaciousness' of your body? Energy field of your hands, legs, hips, pelvis region, abdomen, shoulders, neck, face, head and so on. That's the formless life you are that animates, runs and sustains your incredibly complex body. Can you be aware of awareness that enables the content in the foreground to be? Can you be aware of the silence or stillness underneath that enables the sounds to be? These questions and practices help create gaps between incessant Egoic thinking, thus making way for sacred and formless presence to shine through. When you are in touch with inner space, that is essentially you, you are connected with something so vast, joyous, immeasurable and sacred that world, mind and events become insignificant in comparison to it.. A playfulness arises. And it's not a selfish but selfless state. "If you don't realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king." Tao Te Ching. So be aware of the inner space as much as you can. In other words, be aware of your inner body and awareness because that’s who you are in essence. It is highly recommended that you read Stay Rooted in Being for more depth on this.

Recognize the illusion

Recognize the dreamlike quality of human existence. Have you ever asked yourself that you could be in a dream right now? You, consciousness, have been in the grip of ego or mind and identified with forms (body, background, personality, title and so on) for so long that you think this is your reality. In other words, you see yourself no more than name and form, and experience this world only through limited view of sense perceptions and thinking. Confusing? Try this: recall something that you did or experienced in reality. Now recall something you did or experienced in a dream. When you recalled both of the scenarios, did you notice any difference in the way the images and/or sounds from the memory appeared? Most probably not. Contextually they were both the same. Some images and sounds, which are thoughts. Were they ever real? Similarly, for a dying person, their whole life seems as if it was a dream. Just like images and objects in a dream disappear, similarly in reality, objects, people and experiences disappear as if they had never been. All you are left with is a memory of them. And even memory, which arises as a thought form, fades and disappears. Even if you have pictures and videos of the memories, you likely may not remember if you really took the pictures or were really in them. Again, suffering arises when you seek yourself and/or long-lasting fulfillment in fleeting things, thoughts, relationships and circumstances, which they can't provide. If you didn't realize this, you will be condemned to chase after transient things, sensory or sexual pleasures, titles, relationships, and experiences, one after another, with an unconscious expectation that they will provide you long lasting fulfillment. Have you noticed that normal ups and downs in a dream do not affect you that much and keep you asleep? However, it's the nightmare that has the potential to wake you up. Similarly in 'reality', it's the normal ups and downs that keep you in the grip of ego (dream of form) but when you face a limit situation or deep loss such as disability, death of a loved one or your own impending death, major illness, failure or rejection, meaninglessness etc. and the world doesn't make sense anymore, you go through a living nightmare. That's when one has a stronger motivation to wake up or get out of it. That's why suffering has a noble purpose, as it has potential to crack open the shell of the ego by forcing you to surrender and wake up from the 'dream of matter' i.e dream of mind. This is also one of the reasons why most enlightened people on our planet once had a dense and heavy pain body. Space of awareness. What you are experiencing right now through sense perceptions is the projection of the subjective external world, the dance of atoms and molecules, in your space of consciousness.. It's an illusion that what you are experiencing is 'outside' or separate from you. Doesn't make sense? While you are dreaming your mind populates the 'space of consciousness', the substratum, with content, smell, touch, sounds, people, environment, etc. Like a screen that gets populated by a projector. This projection is a reflection of your inner state. Similarly, 'in reality', it's the projection of the subjective external world through limited view of sense perceptions that populates your space of consciousness. In unenlightened state, you see and act on the reality through conditioned mind, voice of the past, which has a compulsive need to react, conceptualize, fragment, resist, analyze and label 'what is'. Plus, content is all you know as formless dimension becomes completely obscured. There's a unity between the observer (you) and the observed (world). Your 'state of consciousness' determines how you perceive and act on the world, and what kind of situations, things and people you attract. For example: If you believe that the world is a cold-hearted place, then that belief or paradigm, based on mental conditioning, will be reflected all around you and you will attract more situations and people like that. In addition, you will have a very selective perception i.e you will see only those parts, events and people that will confirm your belief. Like when you see through a green lens, things around seem green. This is also one of the most important scientific breakthroughs from 20th century which says that the observing consciousness is not separate from observed phenomenon. A different way of looking makes the same phenomenon to behave differently.

See the relative and absolute truth. Despite being quite powerful, the human mind is limited. Doesn't matter how cultivated or sharp it is. It's because mind can at most show you the relative truth or aspects of the truth via thinking. For example: the sun sets and rises every day. It's true, but relatively. As an absolute truth, the sun is shining all the time, it never sets or rises. There is only one absolute truth and all other truths emanate from it. However, as long as you are in mind-identified or ego driven state, you will keep conceptualizing and fragmenting things and events through thinking, instead of seeing them holistically or as 'part of the whole'. How can you realize the totality then? Or how to see things holistically? By stepping out of your mind. That is to say, by perceiving through inner space or knowing or awareness to realize that you are one with the totality. Read Inhabit Your Inner Body More Deeply for more. This is the feeling of inner space that Einstein pointed to when he said "The scientist's religious 'feeling' takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural laws, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that in comparison with it all systematic thinking of human being is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of my work". When the world is not perceived through inner-space, it is seen as a threatening place. People in particular.

Inhabiting the Present Moment

See the illusion of time. Before the time was conceptualized in seconds, hours, minutes, days and so on, the time was always seen as now. Research has proven that 2-to-3-year old children can identify the time as 'now' or 'not now' but as their Ego grows in this ego-driven world, that is to say as their ego identifies with their growing form, more things and stories("good" or "bad" or "neutral"), knowledge etc., they become more lost in the world, the “known”, and psychological time i.e useless, negative, worrisome, repetitive and compulsive thoughts about content, people, world, past and future. Thus get farther from their true self that is always here and Now. Have you heard people or yourself say something like "the day I achieve that I will be at peace and my future will be secure"? That day usually never comes. It's a mind-made delusion which says happiness and/or peace lie in the future, but of course, future comes as present moment and whatever happened in the past, happened in the present moment. Consider this, even if you are thinking about past or future, they are no more than thoughts and emotions that you, the experiencer, are experiencing in the Now. “Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.” Eckhart Tolle. Even if you achieved what you intended to, it will not give you a long-lasting fulfillment or satisfaction, and there will still be a void because dissatisfaction, desire, resistance etc. are in the very structure of ego. "Ego wants to want more than it wants to have." Eckhart Tolle. So no possessions, achievements, pleasures, experiences or relationship can satisfy it, except temporarily. We spoke about this earlier. Then you would be really in trouble as you won't be able to delude yourself that achieving goals, pleasures, relationships, possessions and so on will fulfill you. Even if you could, it will become harder and harder. "I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind." ‎Ecclesiastes 1:14. However, even feeling frustration after repetitive cycles of achievement and failure, pain and pleasure, high and low etc. is part of divine game, the leela. As it has the potential to force you to surrender and realize that no experience, relationship, pleasure or possession can satisfy you, except temporarily. So you don't blindly chase after them with an unconscious expectation that they will fulfill you or relieve you of the background unease and pain that is part of collective human condition. "If you want to get rid of something, allow it to flourish." Tao Te Ching

Realize deeply that you don't need time or effort to be who you are in essence. You, timeless awareness, are inseparable from the present moment. So only in the Now can you realize or recognize yourself as the background awareness that enables thoughts, reactions, emotions and world in the foreground to be. So you don't need time, better thinking, effort, achieve something great or understand a great deal of spiritual truth to realize who you truly are beyond your name and form. This simple truth is diametrically opposite to the values of our contemporary culture which says all good things take time and effort (or doing). While, this may be true on the level of form, but when it comes to awakening, time is the greatest obstacle. You will need time and effort until you realize that you don't need them to realize who you are in essence. Now is the key. "Enter the Now, from there" Eckhart Tolle. That's why it is said that you cannot make spiritual awakening or 'end of suffering' a future goal or all you will get is further suffering and frustration. As it will always seem that you never are there. This truth is realized first hand or not at all. No one can realize it for you.

Feel the space inside and outside. If your sense perceptions (smell, sight, touch, taste, hearing) and mind (thoughts and emotions) were turned off, what would you be left with? Timeless and vibrantly alive space of present moment. Meditate upon this by closing your eyes. Can you feel that your body is alive and spacious? Can you realize that fleeting events, world, people, sense perceptions, physical sensations, thoughts and emotions are no more than the dance of energy arising and disappearing in your space of consciousness? Just like infinite number of fleeting planets, stars, galaxies etc. arising, floating and disappearing into the vast emptiness of space. Can you realize that body is an incredible misperception of your true reality and all that there is is vibrantly alive and peaceful space?

Knowing Your Primary Purpose

Know your primary purpose. You may have this notion that your primary purpose is to get a good job, start a business, become a musician, travel places, find a partner, start a family, build or buy a house etc. No, these are all secondary, external and bound to the 'law of impermanence'. Your primary and inner purpose is to awaken i.e reconnect with your true self; the formless consciousness within that wants to manifest itself through you. When you are unaware of this dimension, every other purpose or action, even if it is to create heaven on earth or help others, is of the ego. As it arises out of desire and/or fear, which are the primary motivating forces of Ego and bound to karmic cycle and dissatisfaction (sooner or later). How to reconnect with your true self? By realizing your formless essence, disguised as a person. You don't have to look outside but look within. This is how close you are to the infinite and eternal presence of God or One Consciousness. And now is the only point of access to it. You access it now, or not at all. Read Dissolve the Ego (According to Eckhart Tolle's Teachings) for more depth. It is only at this point can you feel true oneness and make a real contribution to the world at the level of cause. It's because only those who have transcended the world can bring about a better world. "For the creation (universe) waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed." Romans 8:19. What does 'children of God to be revealed' mean? Consciousness becoming conscious of itself. That is to say, you becoming aware of your own essence or holiness or divinity. Whatever you want to call it, it still cannot be named and is infinitely more than these words (content), which are only pointers. Tao Te Ching pointed to the same truth "The Tao (consciousness) that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The unnameable is eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things". Once you realize your primary purpose, external purpose becomes just a game that you may continue to play and honor because you enjoy it. That is to say, you no longer have the delusional expectation that achieving goals, higher titles, success, acquiring possessions, experiences, pleasures, relationships etc. will provide you long lasting fulfillment or make you feel complete.

Realize that these words are just pointers or signposts. These words are pointing to the absolute truth that you, in essence, are formless consciousness or stillness. The moment you tried to interpret these pointers into something or conceptualize them or seek for the truth in them, you will get lost. There's nothing to understand or interpret. So spiritual pointers or meditation methods are no more than signposts and means to an end. Buddha's saying "Finger pointing to the moon is not the moon" points to this. So be very aware that you don't get trapped in spiritual sounding concepts, ideas or words. No set of words, thoughts, content, mathematical formulas or symbols, which by their very nature are limited and rooted in form, can express or define the formless Infinite One life underneath all forms. You can talk about these pointers, teach others, write about being spiritual, believe in them or not etc., it would make no difference in your life unless you realize or 'live' the reality of formless and timeless consciousness or “Now” to which they point. Discovering and abiding in the state of Being is your primary purpose. As the spiritual dimension is meant to be lived. Missing this purpose of human existence is sin. Which is the original meaning of the word sin i.e to miss the mark.