Some folks like to say: I am not this body.
I imagine why they say it. They may want to make a point, and it can be meant as a pointer. But it can also be misleading.
To me, it’s more accurate to say that I am not most fundamentally anything within the content of experience, including this body. I am more fundamentally what it all happens within and as. I am what it all comes and goes within and as.
And it is also accurate to say I am this body in a couple of different ways.
In a conventional and pragmatic sense, I am this body. That’s what my passport says. It’s what most people see me as. And that’s completely fine.
I am also this whole field of experience, including this body. What I am forms itself into its own content of experience, including this body and the wider world. I am all of it while it’s here.
There is some validity to each of these views and many more.
Image by me and Midjourney.
INITIAL NOTES
I am not the body?
- I am not most fundamentally this body or anything in particular within content of experience
- And yet, am also this body
- In a conventional sense, passport, how others see me, is not wrong
- And I am all content of experience, including of this body