I had the pleasure of attending a workshop by leader and spiritual teacher, Adyashanti at the local bookshop. He had presence, and displayed both a playful and energetic being. One of his point that has stuck with me is the idea that “before we can answer the question of who am I really, we must be able to acknowledge that we don’t really know”.
This idea has stuck with me, because what are we other than the many concepts and layers of clothes that we’ve tried on over the years. It might’ve first started with our parents giving us our first jean jacket and said that we would be a rockstar. Or it could’ve been our first mentor giving us our first blazer that had the right length of cuffs. Our identities are those that we’ve accepted along the way, until we choose to set our own.
Yet Adyashanti’s point is that for us to understand who we are, really, we must be open to shedding off all of those layers. We must be open to the discomfort of not knowing, of not being certain, and of believing that we truly might never know. That’s the key to the pursuit, and is what makes the journey itself such a joy.
In essence, we must be participate in the death of our current self, in order to emerge fresh, with open eyes.
On a more practical note, I’ve recently attended a Living Trust Seminar. The biggest takeaway, is that there are programs in place to ensure that the bulk of our time spent producing, creating, and participating in the global economy, has a path forward. Maybe that’s an area of growth, the acceptance that what we’ve worked hard to acquire can disappear if we don’t have instructions in place for those that continuing living.