Who are you?

“We have no idea what we are.”
– Rumi

Ask yourself, who am I?

We’re so used to the concept that we should know everything, that education is the ultimate knowledge. 

But my own discovery, through the course of self-inquiry, is that we can never truly know ourselves in the traditional way of knowledge alone.

Why can we never know who we are?

Because we spend our lives trying to know why we are here, seeking the purpose of our life, but in that quest, we seek only answers in knowledge.

Until, through our quest, or through Grace, we discover self-inquiry.

Buddha asked this question and found the answer. Bankei asked this question and found the answer. Ramana, Papaji, Nisargadatta, Gangaji, Adyashanti and Sri Mooji, my own teacher, all asked this question and found the answer. In fact, they became the living answer.

Throughout the millennia, many human beings have asked this question, but only a few have discovered the Absolute Truth hidden within the question. 

We can all ask this question. But to simply ask, with the mind, and answer with the mind, is not enough. Initially, it may be the start. For me, it began as the first (and only) koan I studied as a trainee Zen teacher. The answer, as it unfolded, led me deeper into the question, and it is an answer continues to deepen and deepen.

If you’re interested in exploring the question of who you are, I recommend you start with Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings on the subject. (Read / Download a PDF)