It’s so easy to think that we are all the labels ascribed to us — mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, teacher, preacher. We sometimes accept personality descriptions like aggressive, moody, intense or amiable. We introduce ourselves to others by name or profession, and without question believe that the appellation or title represents who we are. This experience of allowing ascriptions to define us is a bit like plastering all the faces of everyone we meet onto our own face until we can no longer recognize who we are. The process of peeling off those “impressions” is a life long journey, one that begins with an alignment with the present moment.
One impression that we carry with us is in part a result of all those plastered images and unspoken expectations: a belief in the limitations of the body as a separate self that defines us. I pondered the restrictive nature of that belief and wrote the following poem:
All my life I have defined my limits,
squeezed myself into a body I call me.
That body defied my innocent consciousness and
attached itself to my mind for security.
The social rituals of age piled onto my small frame and
exploded as my body grew.
I watched as the frame I called body,
changed and moved beyond who I thought I was.
Deep within each moment I remained me
expressed as a universe of spirit.
I tried to free myself from the speeding train
that is my life and body in action.
I paused to breathe, like stopping at a train stop
on a mindless journey.
The train door stays open and the vistas
are endless.
I see myself and the wonder of Now
in that present space, that question with no answer.
And all comes together for me
All-That-Is kisses my soul
as I shake hands with peace.
I am not the body I squeezed myself into,
but I am life’s expression in this moment.
I open the gates of my heart
and ease out of my limitations.
Out beyond what I thought was myself,
I touch freedom and watch a thousand moments
collapse into one.
Everything meets me and carries me lovingly into my self,
the deep resonance of NOW.
nine principles for joy 
Wow. What I got from this is that it is vital to know who we are; if we are not the body or mind, then what are we? We innocent beings go through life, and we get “dirty” (although not really; only thoughts about being dirty); then, as you say, we get to “peel” off all that we are not a realize what we are. And we can notice that there was never anything to peel away; it was all a mirage, only the false belief about who were are not. Nice.
A question that comes up for me is “Am I a who or a what or something else as the essence of who I really am?” I believe I am loving energy, but that’s an idea that I have and may not be true. I am most free when I don’t struggle with an answer, but allow my spirit to just be in the moment, not wondering, or analyzing, or questioning. Just be. Stillness has its own language.
Beautifully spoken..
Thanks to you beauty in language is possible in the moment. There’s only one of us.
Beautiful… I really connected with this. I am in a personal process that I have been questioning all of those things we have to peel off. The more comfortable I am with myself, the more at peace I am with who I know to be me in my heart and in my own skin I feel at times I can close my eyes, meditate and instead of peeling off they just fall to the ground, and in those moments I am reminded of having no limits to where I can go.
The peeling off process is gradual, but I like your description of your process as the images ” just fall to the ground.” Awareness of who you really are is so freeing, as if a burden you didn’t know you had has been lifted.
Peeling off reminds me of what I have come to know of surrender. In the baptist church while growing up, I was introduced to a song with the lyrics, “I surrender all, all to thee my blessed savior I surrender all. One day as a mature adult, not long ago, surrender took on new meaning, clarity. I practice surrendering, or peeling off, the layers of labels I received so easily from the institutions that have constructed all the aspects of my life, to be conformed and not transformed by renewing my mind. The Kwanzaa principle Kujichagulia comes to mind which is Self Determination and within that determination we are inclined “To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.” In a recent reading and a workshop I attended, we are encouraged to repeat the following mantra, “I am more than my body. I am more than my emotions. I am more than my thoughts. I am more than my experiences. I am more than my creations. I am a presence of the Divine.