Who am I?

I feel like I have not been fully "showing up" in many parts of my life for a good while now. It has largely been due to my experience with chronic pain. I have been diagnosed with several things, but there is no need to go into details, because the real heart of the matter is that I have been identifying with my body as if it were my true Self. I have been blinded by the veil of suffering.

Gratefully in the past several years of dealing with this I've had moments of clarity, where the veil has been lifted, along with my spirit and understanding of who I truly am. When it comes down to it, I am not my body. I am not my mind. I am not all the little labels that could be attached to myself for all the roles I play in this life.

And that's just it. We "play" the roles we've been handed. It is part of this cosmic play, this divine dance, we call life. In sanskrit it is called Lila or Leela, which in a non-dualistic philosophy, means the creative play of the divine absolute.

When I remember this, it always puts a smile on my face, much like the cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland, because I've remembered the little secret that has been shared with me. Ramana Maharshi, a famous Indian saint and jnana yogi, was famous for asking the question "Who am I?" to lift the veils of illusion.

So the next you are feeling crushed or even elated by all the things that make up your experience in this life, remember that you are not any of the labels, the pain, the beauty, the accomplishments or the failures. You are simply a part of the cosmic play that is life. You are a thread woven into the blanket of consciousness that covers us all. You are the true, capital "S" Self.