Would I Still Exist?

from Leap Before You Look
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Take some time to reflect:   Who have you defined yourself to be?
You can write your answers on paper, or practice with a friend, and ask your friend to makes notes for you.

I'm a plumber.    
I'm intelligent.     
I'm a father.     
I'm uneducated.     
I'm a Liberal.    

Now for each of these statements, ask yourself:
~~ If I stopped defining myself in this way, would I still exist?

     ~~ If I were no longer a plumber, would I still exist?
     ~~ If I no longer defined myself as intelligent, would I still exist?
     ~~ If I no longer thought of myself as a father, would I still exist?

Take your time to work through all the labels you have placed upon yourself, and find out if any of them can really define you or contain you.

When all labels have been cast aside, what remains?

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Some labels are easier to drop than others.  Here's a more difficult one:
     ~~ If I no longer identified myself as a woman or a man, would I still exist?

If your definition of yourself is more conceptual, such as "I am light" or "I am consciousness", then your challenge is:
     ~~ Would I still exist without this thought, without this concept?

Whether you do this exercise alone or with a friend, you will need some time for it to go deep.  When it does, stop and feel your own presence when you have let go of all definitions.  Are you still here?  Can you still feel, see and hear?  Take some time to relax into knowing the face you had before you were born.

We perform myriad roles during our lifetime.  Each one may be necessary, even creative or enjoyable, but each can also become a prison if we become completely identified with the role and forget our deeper nature.

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Related RoadKill Posts:
Leap Before You Look 
Who Do You Think You Are?

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The question of identity depends on what I'm meant to be.
I sometimes think that I'm too many people,
too many people, too many people at once.
~ Pet Shop Boys
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