Who asks ‘Who am I?’

by Vic Shayne
author
The Self is a Belief: The idea that causes suffering

“Who am I?” This is a question that many gurus offer to those who need to know what they are beyond this sense of self. Perhaps very few of us care to know, let alone find out. What does it take to motivate one to look beyond the superficialities of life and find its very source? What drives some of us to do this? It has been said that suffering can be a motivator, but the truth is that most people merely live with suffering without turning inward. In my experience, the motivator is exhaustion and despair.

Those of us who have gone through this process of seeking the source of our essence feel as though we are tired of going in circles, tired of our own suffering, sickened by the suffering of other people and animals, and tired of the superficial things of life.

This question, “Who am I?”, does not need to be overt or spoken aloud. It is a point when the mind begins to wake up and is driven to look at the source of itself. The question is only an idea. It has no inherent meaning. It is a pointer.

For many, perhaps most, the mind merely asks Who am I? and then goes on to describe itself in the most superficial terms. But for a few, the mind locks onto this question and consciousness removes its attention from the phenomenal and back to the source of the phenomena.

The question “Who am I?” could very well be called a koan in the Zen tradition, but this, too, is no more than an idea. When one finally finds the essence of the Self, then not even a question can be formed; and the answer cannot be put into words. Ultimately, however, the significance of the question “Who am I?” is that no one can answer it except for you. No one can look for the answer on your behalf. And no one can transfer the answer to you, because this is not about knowledge at all; it is about realization of what is prior to words, thought, and even consciousness.