Who We Are Beyond the Collection of our Masks?

In our daily life we tend to cover our real face with a set of masks. Our personal identity is the collection of our various masks. We immediately put on one of those masks whenever we are not alone. Whenever there is another person in the room with us, one of our masks is automatically fixed on our face, matching the situation and the other person.

We ourselves have created these masks unconsciously, under the influence of our parents and teachers, in the course of our life. As a child we made efforts to meet all the innumerable expectations of society reaching us through our parents and teachers. Perhaps the first of these masks is that of the ”good kid” mask, as our conditioned us to the behavioural patterns of a good child. Then, as we grow up, the number of our masks begin to increase steadily.

In our daily life, we need a wide range of masks, as we encounter a large number of different situations and people, and we have a suitable mask for every situation. We tend to behave differently with our boss or with our subordinates, with our children, with our husband and wife, with our friends and with our enemies.

Our identity is therefore made up by the collection of our masks that we show to the outside world, and very often we are not even aware of that.

These mask were imposed upon us by society, and after a while we begin to identify with the masks. We have eventually completely identified with the masks.

Who we are beyon our Masks?

We ourselves are the space of the pure Consciousness, and the concepts, emotions and ideas that we formerly erroneously identified our entire Self, are in fact inside us.

It is possible to directly experience this Miracle, this pure space of Consciousness. It is a new dimension which escaped our attention before. The truth is that it is the only existing dimension, into which the forms and shapes of the external world are projected, and here we experience our bodily sensations, emotions and ideas which are not more than the phenomena of this dimension.

We therefore discover ourselves a new dimension, and this new dimension, this Miracle is an ancient, undescribable but sensible, living and infinite space, emptiness in which bodily sensations, emotions, ideas and physical forms emerge and vanish, like waves on the surface of the ocean. We know that this Miracle exists; It is the only existing Life.

It exists, as an ancient, living empty space, a Consciousness conscious of itself, comprising everything. There is nothing outside it, everything that exists is born inside it, within its space, as its manifestations. This state is characterized by tranqulity, deep silence, peace and eternal love.

We experience that this Miracle, this mysterious ”something” is beyond time, it has no beginning and end, it was never born and will never die. If no forms and shapes appear inside, then it will not be conscious of itself, it just exists ”passively,” sleeping without dreams. Once forms and shapes are created, it awakes to the existence of those forms and shapes, and recognizes itself as the creator of the forms, it awakes to its own existence.

If a person does not only experience the more conscious Self emerging in the present moment as an assumed role, but is able to fully submit to the Miracle unfolding in the ”Here and Now,” this space in the Consciousness, the person will live in that space to an increasing extent.

If the cornerstone of our life is in the Present, in the ”Here and Now,” our attention will gradually turn away from the whirlpool of forms and shapes, and we discover the Miracle of Consciousness. We find the source of our existence in that Miracle, and no longer in the world of forms and shapes.

(C) Frank M. Wanderer, 2013-2015

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About the author:

Frank M. Wanderer Ph.D is a professor of psychology, a consciousness researcher and writer. Frank is the author of the books “The Revolution of Consciousness: Deconditioning the Programmed Mind “, “The Biggest Obstacle to Enlightenment: How to Escape from the Prison of Mind Games?” and several books on consciousness. With a lifelong interest in the mystery of human existence, Frank’s work is to help others wake up from identification with our personal history and the illusory world of the forms and shapes, and to find our identity in what he calls “the Miracle”, the mystery of the Consciousness.

He has contributed to a few different spiritual websites including The Mind Unleashed, Wake Up World, Waking Times, Zen Gardner, ChangeYour Thoughts, and Body, Mind, Soul, Spirit.