You are not who you think you are.
In the immortal words of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Tragically, for far too many, this human experience has convinced us that we are our experiences. If we feel sad, we say, “I am sad.” If we feel happy, we say, “I am happy.” But it is a mistake of epic proportions to believe we are our feelings. We are not our feelings any more than we are our thoughts. Of course our thoughts and feelings have a tremendous influence over the quality and content of who we are. But we are neither our thoughts nor our feelings.
We are something more—infinitely more.
Which is why we can change both our thoughts and our feelings.
To be clear, we experience feelings. We think thoughts.
But we are free.
Specifically, we are free to choose.
Which means, ultimately, we are free to realize our unlimited potential.
Indeed, we are potential.
As C.S. Lewis courageously observed, “[We are] possible gods and goddesses. . . The dullest, most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”
But as long as your spirit—who you really are—remains a prisoner to your mind and body (your thoughts and feelings (your experiences)), not only will you experience less of the good life has to offer, but you will believe you are something you’re not.
Shakespeare got it right: This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.
But you cannot be true to yourself if you misunderstand who you are.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
We are free.
We are potential.
We are free to realize our unlimited potential.
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