Unravel Your Nots

One technique of ego dissolution, which is part of the three pillars meditation of awarenessnow.com is negation or meditating on what you are not, what you identify with. If you unravel all the NOTS that keep you bound to the material plane, you free your spirit. When you eliminate your NOT self, you're left with your true self. When you peel away the layers of the banyan seed, you're left with the empty space in the center; it's not empty but full of life.

I am NOT this body, but it’s easy to think so and get attached to it when I look in the mirror. We can correctly think of a body as something our souls wear like clothes or more like a spacesuit that’s specially designed to operate in this dimension. Or it's like a car that transports me from one place to another and which I have to refuel every so often. Just like our clothes, our bodies get wrinkled and torn. We can repair our bodies like clothes, but we can't replace them with a new suit. I can't trade in my body like a car for a new model every few years. I'm stuck with this old jalopy until it finally breaks down. But when it does, I will live on. I AM more than my body.

I am NOT this mind. Someone may have three PhDs, know a lot of things, and have a photographic memory, but that’s not who they are. The mind is like a computer that processes a multitude of sensory inputs and thoughts, takes in data, makes calculations, and spits out decisions. But every computer gets glitches, slows down due to memory overload, and sometimes crashes. So, as we age, we become forgetful and senile. The mind is connected to the brain, which is like the computer in the car. In one near-death experience, when a woman was brain dead during a brain aneurism operation, she experienced everything and later recalled what the doctors did and said during the operation. So, I AM more than my mind.

I am NOT my occupation, which is just what I do for a living. I may have editor after my name, but that’s just a role my soul plays for part of the day. Like actors, we put on our professional costume (e.g., a suit and tie, a blue uniform, or coveralls) and play a part for 8 hours. Then we go home and play a role in our family drama or comedy. If I lost my job or if I could no longer see to read, write, and edit, I would still be. Neither am I the roles I play outside of work: husband, father, householder. Job from the Bible lost his livelihood, family, and home, yet he remained faithful. I AM more than my roles in this drama.

I am NOT my personality. Continuing with the actor theme, our personalities are like masks we put on. Some people are optimistic and carefree while others are pessimistic and cautious. But under our masks is the face of our true self, which is the same face of the Dreamer of this dream, the creator of all these characters. I AM more than my personality.

So if I'm not any of the above, what am I? What's left? The spirit that drives the body, operates the mind, plays the roles, and just is without having to do or have anything particular. I AM that eternal, immortal, infinite Being that is One with all other Beings in creation. I AM the unbounded Self free of all the nots of the not self. So, embrace your highest Self and let go of all the strings tying you to your nots. Be free.