I’ve been trying to reconcile the idea of identity within myself. What is identity? Why do we hold identity in such high regard? Does the idea of identity support who I truly want to be in this world, or does it negate it? I’ve come to the conclusion that identity, with all that it encompasses, may have far less value than we give it. Perhaps it may even be one of the reasons we experience ourselves as separate entities from the world and from one another. These identities we take on and wear like coats tend to cover who we Truly are. Somewhere along the way, we begin to believe that we are the coats. We become characters moving through an illusionary world, playing the roles we have accepted for ourselves and the roles others have given us. But are we truly these characters we have created through thoughts and ideas of who we need to be in this world? Are we portraying Truth as we wear these coats and dance through this world as characters in a play? I’ve been thinking deeply about these things and trying to make sense of them in relation to the world we see before us. Is this reality we seem to be living in truly Real, or is much of what we experience simply a reflection of the identities we hold? Identity is ripe with misunderstanding. And because of this, perhaps most of us live under the enchantment these identities create. We believe we are merely the people we see in the mirror. We believe we are the roles we play in the lives of others. Ruler and ruled. Master and slave. The haves and the have-nots. The successful and unsuccessful. The powerful and powerless. But are any of these identities ultimately Real? Or are they misconceptions covering a deeper reality—that beneath all of these distinctions, we are expressions of the same Being, living through what appears to be many, yet existing as a whole? If we could only see how significant we truly are, perhaps we would hold the Truth of ourselves in the same high regard that we presently give our identities.

About seven or eight years ago, I found myself entering into something I couldn’t explain. It was new territory—something I had never experienced before. It was spiritual territory, and somehow I had found myself deep within its well. The waters were unfamiliar, but there was something there to help me. I had recently become aware of a presence within myself, and that presence began to teach me things. It was as though I had opened a doorway into an entirely different way of experiencing myself and the world. I began going deeper within myself than I ever had before, and in doing so, I discovered something I didn’t know was there. The truth of myself began to reveal itself. At first, this True Self seemed unfamiliar. Yet at the same time, there was a feeling of safety—a sense that I could trust what was happening. That feeling has stayed with me and has allowed me to continue going deeper to this day. It’s difficult to put into words what I was experiencing. In the beginning, it was even more difficult to understand. But today, I feel more connected to myself than ever before. I have come to believe that this part of me came alive for a reason. Its purpose wasn’t simply to reveal itself to me. Its purpose was to become itself through me in this world. This True Self and I have come a long way together. And now, we are working toward something greater. We are working toward helping others discover that same deeper place within themselves. We live in a world where it can sometimes feel as though we’re alone. Where the challenges we face can seem relentless and overwhelming. Where peace can feel dependent upon everything outside of us finally going the way we want it to. But I have come to understand that this doesn’t have to be the world we experience. Life doesn’t have to feel empty or endlessly difficult. There is a place of peace within us that doesn’t have to depend upon what is happening around us. There is something deeper beneath the fear, the struggle, the identities we’ve created, and everything we’ve been conditioned to believe about ourselves.