Do you think you are big or small? I’m not talking about you as a person, because I don’t believe that who you really has anything to do with a person. Your body and personal identity are temporary. Who you really are is not temporary! That’s my belief after a lot of looking around along with some interesting experiences, anyway. And it jives with all the spiritual teachers and world religions as well.
I heard Eckhart Tolle say that if you think you are small, small things will bother you. If you think you are big, then they will not. This is a great test to show you what you really believe about yourself. Many people come to believe something very lofty about their true identity, usually through religious or spiritual study. I agree with this, too. I believe that who we really are, after all is said and done, is eternal, changeless, immortal, already perfect spirit. Not bad, huh? So if somebody cuts me off on the road or if I spill coffee on myself, then would eternal, changeless, immortal, already perfect spirit really care? Could it? Those are small things! So the answer is hell no. This is a great too, because when these things happen and I react, I can remind myself of what I believe to be the truth. As I practice this, and life will give plenty of opportunities, I get more in touch with being big rather than small, and these things bother me less and less. After a while, you might notice that something happens and you are really not bothers. You know that that same things would’ve bothered you some time in the not-too-distant past, though. This is awesome! It’s quite empowering, and it shows you that you are headed in the right direction – to more and more peace. This is no less than the inner peace that Buddha and Jesus and all them have talked about. It’s pretty cool.
To take it another step further, would eternal, changeless, immortal, already perfect spirit care if its dog died? Or if its wife or husband left? Or if its body got sick, even cancerous? I’d have to say not at all. Where would we possibly draw the line between what is worthy of being upset or not? The seven billion people on earth would draw seven billion different lines. The only conclusion that makes sense to me is that eternal, changeless, immortal, already perfect spirit is literally untouchable by what happens here.
Isn’t it interesting how this might resonate with the story of Jesus being crucified? He appeared three days later and basically said, “Hey y’all – it’s cool because I’m not a body! Never was. And you aren’t, either. We’re spiritual beings who are untouchable by what happens here, as illlustrated by me appearing to you now. The worst possible thing happened to me, and look – who I really am is 100% fine. This is the lesson of the crucifixion.” I’m aware that plenty of priests and theologians wouldn’t agree with this, although plenty would. You can see in my post about Christianity how I feel about the man-made aspects of this religion. Pitch it. I’ll take Jesus all day long, though.
Another thing that jives with your true self being untouchable is near death experiences and out of body experiences. If you look around and ask around, you’ll see that tons and tons of people throughout time have had experiences in which they are not in their body. They are looking down at it and thinking, “What the hell is happening – that’s me down there, but this is really me up here!” When this happens, they realize that they really have nothing to do with that physical body. What a discovery! These people pretty much all come back saying that there was perfection where they were, and it was totally pain free. They might be looking at their dead body on the operating room table, too. Talk about bodily pain… They say there could be no pain where they were, in this other state. This helps show us that despite what happens here, we are okay in the end. Another thing to note, too, is that there are countless such stories and accounts. And they come from normal, intelligent, sane, not-weird people who did not ask for that experience. It just happened. Ask the doctors, too, because they hear about them. They tend not to talk about them, though. Until you ask…
So thing about who you really are. If you think you are big, then it’s time to challenge yourself when you are getting upset over small things. Don’t beat yourself up, though – there’s a difference. This is just something to think about. And if it’s true, it’s very good news.