Who are you? Some might define themselves as, I am my body, my thoughts, my possessions, my accomplishments or my cultural origins. We tend to describe ourselves by some external qualities and use these to distinguish ourselves from others. We cling to these and hold a lot of importance to this reality secretly hoping we can say, “I’ m a somebody”. This makes up our separateness – what we can see, hear, touch and accumulate, but what if this isn’t who we are at all? These things make up the human experience but is this all an illusion?

If you are not these things, then who are you? Everything that we consider “the self” is impermanent. Your body, your possessions, your friends and family. Nothing lasts forever. The self will drop away and the physical body will die but is it ever lost? No, it is still with us. It becomes the soil, then part of a tree, then becomes the oxygen we breathe from that tree that sustains us. Nothing is really lost because form transforms itself. Love teaches you, that you are everything. Wisdom teaches you that you are nothing. We are both.

If “the separate self” is an illusion then what is there? Maybe only oneness. Perhaps, we are all different expressions of the same life force. If we can detach from our external human reality for a minute and consider the possibility that we are not our body, thoughts or possessions and that we are something more, akin to a stillness that connects us to all living beings. We are one life force experiencing humanness through many different ways. The I becomes We and nothing and no one is ever lost or separated from us. It’s a beautiful thought. Every being is united.

The Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh explains how a piece of paper contains the universe. Look at the paper, stare until you see a cloud, then look for the sun in the paper, the rain that fell and the trees that grew. Now see the logger who cut down the tree that made the paper and the food that nourished him. The logger’s father and mother are in it too for without them we would not have this paper. We can see that this paper cannot exist without all of these things. When you look at this paper, we can see ourselves in it too. My words are in it and your perceptions of them. This paper is no longer a separate object, it is made up of the earth, the rain, the sun, the cloud, and so on. We are all connected.

Free yourself from the confines of the self. You are not your body, your possessions or your thoughts. With this reality you can walk lighter when you know that you are something already perfect that does not need to be defined by external accessories. You can express yourself through these things but know that they are not you. We are everything and nothing at the same time. We are connected to each other, whether we like it or not. The good, the bad and the ugly are all one.

Buddhists meditate, “May all beings be safe, May all beings be happy, May all beings be healthy, May all beings have ease of well being”, this includes all beings, beings of the earth, beings of the air or of the water. Let us try to respect all other living beings more, walk away from your ego more, love your neighbours more, be kinder to your kids more, say your sorry more and offer help more. I am you and you are me.