“The word ‘really’ is an interesting spin on the age-old question, ‘Who are you?’ It adds a sort of comedic relief to the otherwise stressful question – at least for me. Because the great irony is that nobody knows the answer. Any answer we would give to the question ‘who are you?’ is only a placeholder. A container so as not to overstretch our boundaries of ‘self’. An attempt at solidifying the un-solidifiable. But here is my best attempt at answering the question:

‘Who we are’ is a truth that reaches many levels. On one level, it is relatively true that we are who we typically think we are – a body, a mind, an ego, an individual being. Because that is true to us, it is ‘relatively true’. However, one level deeper, we see that we are completely interconnected with other people, the earth, and really, the whole cosmos. This is also ‘who we are’. One level deeper, we come to a space where we simply don’t know, can’t fathom, and ultimately must surrender to the unknown nature of who we are. This is beyond ‘true’ and ‘untrue’ – beyond language itself.

Ultimately, like carving a wooden sculpture from the trunk of a tree, who we ‘are’ is arrived at through a process of chipping away who we ain’t. We can see through the illusion that we are just our bodies. Likewise, the illusion that we are just our thoughts. Just our egos. Each of these constructs must be chipped away at in order to bear what is left behind – who we are, really.”