Your Identity

I picked up a great book today - a book called "The 7 AHA!'s of Highly Enlightened Souls" by Mike George (You can downloaded a copy of his book here). I'll share a part that resonated with me most:

"What you see in the bathroom mirror in the morning is not you - it's only your body. The moment you think (believe) you are your body, you automatically think (believe) you will grow old and ugly and die. Though your body will, YOU don't. But if you believe that YOU do, you will think according to that belief, and youwill give birth to fear. And, as we saw earlier, all forms of stress have their roots in fear. All fear has it's roots in the fear of death, fear of loss or fear of the ending of comfort. They are all forms of death and this is why 99.99 per cent of all people experience some stress (fear) everyy day: because we have all been taught to believe we are only physical entities. However, belief is seldom truth and, in this case, we need the truth to set us free of false belief! In this case, the truth will set you free of fear, and therefore stress.
The truth is that you are not that body you see reflected in the mirror, you are a soul, you are spirit. It is not that you have a soul or spirit somewhere in your body, you ARE a soul. You are it! You, the soul, are conscious and self-aware. Soul, self, spirit and consciousness are synonymous. You are  not your body you occupy. The body is the dwelling and you are the dweller. You animate the body. It is your car, your temple. You cannot be cut, burned, drowned, or set on fire. Your body can, but YOU cannot.

Scientists have nothing to say about soul, because soul cannot be captured in a test tube. That's why you must not believe a word of what you read or hear (including here!) - you must put it to the test. Only when you test this insight, and experience it to be reality, will it be true for you. Belief is not truth and the greatest trth is your own experience. Or in this case, 'insperience' because, in order to 'insperience' as you truly are, you must withdraw your attention from the world 'out there' and transfer it to the world within. Do this only for a few minutes to begin with, until you are accustomed to the method. The following is the method.

Think of yourself as a conscious, self aware, point of spiritual light sitting inside your head, just above and behind the eyes. Your body is simply your car, your temple, your costume. Meditate on this insight and gradually it will become a direct 'insperience'. You will begin to go beyond your own thoughts (you are not your thoughts) and into the direct experience of your silent self. You will begin to realise and experience yourself as non-physical, therefore not subject to death, and therefore eternal, and therefore without the need to fear anything. As this truth becomes mroe real in everyday situations, you will begin to feel less fearful, less unsure, less anxious, less helpless, less dependent and less powerless. Slowly but surely, in every area of your life, you will begin to feel calmer, more relaxed and more confident in your power and ability to handle the challenges which you encounter in everyday life.

You are not your name, position, nationality, or belief system. They are labels and roles, but they are not you. You are not even male or female. You are the being aspect of the human, the mind not the matter, the soul not the body. You are not even your thoughts and feelings. When you realise this, then change will come easily, all your problems will begin to dissolve, and a natural happiness and a deep inner peace will return."