On Identity - Part 3 - From the Perspective of Who I Am NOT!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

1:05pm
I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I’ve spent a lifetime (or two…maybe even three) toiling with the fundamental question: “WHO AM I?” I started this discovery with the grotesquely obvious. However, in their conspicuousness, I have come to re-cognize (re-know) that those indicators are in fact antithetical to my enlightenment. I am beginning to understand that how I once defined myself is no longer sufficient. My old tools for crafting an identity for myself have long since worn out. They don't serve me anymore.

And hence, like Dorothy and Toto in the Wizard of Oz (or The Wiz, depending on your flare), I’ve instigated this expedition anew. I’ve decided that to go deeper in my awareness, I must first separate the wheat from the chaff.

I am not a summation of intricate parts or experiences. No matter how dynamic or complex I would like to think myself to be, who I really am is beautifully simple – once you see past the multitudes of illusions.

I AM NOT….

my family, my friends or my foes
my race, my gender, nor my sexuality
my religion, my politics, the place I was born
my education, my degree, my career
my dreams, my aspirations, my secrets
my success, my misgivings, my failures
this body, this skin, these features
what you think I am, what you want me to be, or what you remember me as…

I AM NOT MY STORY!

This is not a statement of better nor does it come from a place of judgment. This is a statement of truth – a truth I think we all share...a truth that simply says: I AM MORE THAN THIS. ALL OF IT!

Now the question becomes, what’s left?