The Myth of You

You are a myth in your own mind

From the time we come out of the womb we are told a myth, and we quickly come to believe that this story is true and soon we simply take it for granted. All of our societies and cultures are structured to support this story. There’s no conspiracy here, but society thus far has been created and sustained by consciousness that doesn't know its source, so that is the only possibility we have. As we grow older and this story becomes more defined, complex and apparently solidified we become more and more convinced of the truth of this myth.

The myth is born

The first two words to the myth of you are the words 'I am'. Quickly, these two words, through further impressions, starts to take on more characteristics. ‘I am' becomes: I am separate, I am a boy, I am an American boy. We take on traits according to these impressions, like, I am a good boy. Then, I am a good boy and I like my toys. We start to develop a sense of mine. I am a good boy and these are my toys. The seeds of possession and greed are planted—mine and yours. I am a good boy and I am right. My religion is the right religion. But all of these beliefs are built upon the first fundamental impression—'I am'. In this way we create a fictional character.

The thing we never notice about these impressions is that they are completely arbitrary. They are just a matter of the particular circumstances of our birth. Depending on where or when we come out of the womb we will be a Hindu or a Muslim, an American or an African. Depending on the body type we will grow to exhibit male or female characteristics, often with extreme and unnatural traits like machismo or overly-sensitive femininity. But, not realizing how random and circumstantial they are, we come to believe these impressions to be essentially who we are. We define ourselves according to these arbitrary impressions. The myth becomes true in our mind and because of this we see the world as separate and often antagonistic to this me character.

Although now it may appear that we have traveled far away from our essential nature we have not, in fact, gone anywhere or changed essentially at all. We are simply relating to life based on a set of random impressions. These impressions become our beliefs. We identify ourselves with this mythical figure, never even suspecting it is a myth. Yet our essential nature is here eternally, whether we are aware of it or not. The good news is that at any moment we can recognize what is essentially true no matter how far we have apparently strayed from it. The fact of our essential, undivided nature never changes. It is eternal and never lost. The light has simply been seemingly, although not actually, obscured by darkness, or mis-identification. Even at night when we can't see the sun it is still shining in its full resplendence. We have turned our attention away from what is true and have instead identified with a myth, even though what is true is glaringly obvious any time we care to look.

Our essential nature is not something to be attained, but simply to be re-cognized as that which has always been and will always be true. And even though it seems we have traveled very far away from home, in fact, we have never set one foot out the door.

The myth grows

As we go through this lifetime this myth seems to grow larger and larger. It also seems to become a completely true, irrefutable, historical fact. We hold on to this myth for dear life, as if to let go of any of it would mean death. And it will, but only the death of a mythical figure. This holding on to what is not actual takes tremendous energy. We built a fortress around ourselves, like a wall, brick by brick to protect this mythical figure. We create a past—our childhood, the things we have suffered, the wrongs that have been inflicted upon this character, this character that is not empirically real. We are building a wall around nothing and confining ourselves, apparently, within it. We play a role as an actor and forget that we are an actor, coming to believe fully in the character we are playing.

We think there is truth in our past, so we go to a therapist to relive, look into and analyze it, to see what information we can glean from it to inform our current condition. We ask, ‘What does it all mean?’, ‘Who’s to blame?’, ‘What is wrong with me?’, 'What is the meaning of my life?'. The very fact that we place meaning on our past means we believe it is who we are. And this belief is the cause of much of our suffering. But all of these things that have apparently happened have happened to a non-actual entity, a storybook character. That's the ultimate joke! And anyway where are those past events now? They exist only in mind, as memory. Is there really any truth to them now? They are only stories we tell ourselves over and over again to support this story of me to maintain the illusion of self.

As we grow into adulthood our character's beliefs become solidified. We take positions, pitting ourselves against one another, condemning the other’s views and insisting we are empirically right. Our religious beliefs, even if it is atheism, solidify. We feel the god of our choosing is the right and superior god, or spirit or whatever we might believe in. If we don’t like the belief we were born into we simply change that belief for a new and ‘better’ one. This includes all of the new age and eastern beliefs that we acquire. If someone challenges one of our beliefs or differs from them we rebel, defend and condemn. Even if we don’t condemn consciously we still feel superior and think we are right. In all of this, we are simply trading one belief for another. Our ego is fully intact and maybe even stronger than ever.

If we are 'spiritual' we most likely think we know something, more than others who are not into spirituality. These are very deeply solidified beliefs that need to be examined. Because we cherish these beliefs so highly we create a big identity around them, and there can be a lot of resistance in letting them go. But any identification with any belief, no matter how spiritual it seems, is a creation of mind and supports egoic separation. "I am a spiritual being having a human experience; I am a divine manifestation; I am a light body; I am oneness"—whatever you believe yourself to be or to know is an object of the mind, and needs fearless examining, based on a desire to know what is true.

But even in the midst of this apparently solidified thought form your essential formless nature is ever present. Not judging, not condemning, ever here and now. All that is needed is to simply turn your attention away from what is ephemeral and false towards what is eternal and true, here and now.

When the myth becomes doubtless

When the belief in the myth of a separate me is taken to the extreme, when seemingly not even a sliver of light can break through our barrier of beliefs, when our ideas are so fixed and rigid and we are convinced of them absolutely with no possibility of accepting a dissenting opinion, our views become radical. When someone is this radical in their views they consider themselves as absolutely right and anyone who disagrees as absolutely wrong.

The basic function that causes this extremely limited and separating view can be found in the words 'my' and 'mine', which immediately accompany the words 'I' and 'me'. When I have a belief it is my belief, something I possess. If I am firm in that belief I will want to protect it. Because I have invested so much of my identity in a particular belief, like I am a Christian for example, to lose that belief would seem like death. And it is a death. A death of a large part of the myth of me as a separate self.

The more dogmatic I am about my belief the more wrong I have to consider you in order to protect my position and feel right. If I allow a dissenting voice then that would weaken, or make me question, my sense of self. And this fear of losing my identity is the same as the actual fear of death, because the death of my beliefs is the death of me as a separate entity. I, as a separate self, am nothing but beliefs, there is no self here other than beliefs.

It's time for the myth to die

So now we have taken a journey from the beginning of pure innocence and health all the way through to radical lunacy. Where are you in the scheme of this journey? You will say, ‘ But I am not that crazy!’ True, most of us are not radicals, willing to condemn or even kill or die for our beliefs. However, the function that creates the radical is the same functioning that is in all of us. But, the good news is that no matter how far we seem to have strayed, and even through all of the most extreme madness, the light of our essential nature is still true, here and now. Just because we believe ourselves to be separate, just because our view of reality is apparently obscured, it doesn’t mean that we are lost. We are is never lost. We are always the one eternal life, undivided and not separated. If this were not true then no one could ever awaken. Awakening just means coming to know what is already and always true.

At times it might seem that we have traveled very far away from our essential free nature. This is why the journey home appears long and arduous and why very many seekers believe there is no end to the path. Many people also feel that this shift is not within their reach. But it is your birthright simply because it is your very nature already; it is not exclusive to sages, saints and gurus. It is you. In this lifetime, now, you can awaken to your essential free nature simply because it is true now and always. Buddhists call the world of these beliefs and illusions Samsara. It is the endless wheel of birth and death, of delusion and suffering. But you can jump off of that wheel anytime and come to know truth. It just takes being willing to investigate yourself from the light of your essential nature and let that light illuminate and vanquish all that is false until all that is left is the light itself..