Remembering Who We Are

Our ego serves a very important purpose; it is essential in allowing us to know ourselves as individuals having individual experiences. The ego is what enables us to say, I am eating an apple rather than an apple is being eaten. (Deepak Chopra)

Problems arise when we allow our sense of “I” to define us—our relationships, possessions, our fears and desires. When the inner self is limited, our sense of identity becomes clouded by our external experiences. 

Einstein said “A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish it but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind.”

Yoga philosophy reinforces that the root cause of all human suffering is this illusion of separateness. 

When our egos are in charge, we forget that we are all connected. We forget our true nature. Yoga means “to yoke” or “to unite” – it is the connection between mind and body and spirit. When we practice yoga as mindfulness, when we practice quieting the mind and reigning in our thoughts, we are able to see beyond the clouds of our thoughts and past the distractions that are created by our ego. It’s then that we can remember who we are at our core; we can know ourselves as pure awareness, as divine beings. We can begin to understand that we are not our thoughts.  We are not our emotions. We are not our physical bodies.  Especially at a time when the world around us seems so divided, we need to remember that at our core we are all a part of the same divine energy.