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You see, nobody really tells you this bit:
Consciousness takes on the shape of whatever it’s looking at.
Like a mirror that forgets it's a mirror, and starts thinking it’s the face.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj said something rather curious:
“By shifting the focus of attention, I become the very thing I look at, and experience the kind of consciousness it has.”
Now that’s a bit of a mind-bender, isn’t it?
Let’s take this so-called personality of ours.
What is it really but a kind of spotlight — Your awareness landed on a bundle of thoughts, reactions, habits, and poof — now that’s you.
You have identified with it.
But is it really you?
Imagine this:
Each morning you wake up, stretch, and before you open your eyes
Your mind starts scanning for who it remembers you are.
Ah yes — the to-do list.
The familiar stressors.
The old worries.
You gather them all up like clothes you laid out the night before, put them on, and say, “Ah — there I am.”
But… are you?
See, if you meditate, or simply pause long enough…
You may notice that there’s an awareness that exists, even when you’re not busy being someone.
And then the whole game starts to unravel.
Because if you can step outside it, then… who’s the “you” that stepped out?
Modern psychology agrees that personality is what arises in relation to something else.
Give it a conversation, a challenge, a memory — and suddenly your old programming jumps in with a script.
With its opinion
You react. You defend. You perform.
Sometimes you regret it later.
Sometimes you wonder, “Why do I keep doing that?”
And here’s the punchline:
It’s not your fault.
It’s your programming.
Like grooves worn into a record — the needle just follows the path.
And you mistake that audio for your nature.
Now — and this is where it gets a bit naughty — your brain isn’t even showing you what’s real.
No, no.
It’s showing you what it expects.
From the billions of bits of sensory data flying in each moment, your conscious mind picks out, oh… about 50 bits.
50! From Six billion.
The rest?
Filtered. Warped. Projected.
It’s not reality — it’s a curated hallucination.
That’s why two people walk into the same room — one feels welcome, the other feels judged.
The room didn’t change.
Their programming did.
One person sees love.
The other braces for rejection.
Their body is remembering something the present moment never said.
And that’s the thing:
What we forget, the mind keeps whispering.
So if you ever feel like you’re reacting in ways that don’t make sense — if you keep looping through the same patterns — it might not be you.
It might just be what helped you survive once upon a time.
And the beautiful thing is:
You can start to see it.
Try fasting for a few days — just as an example.
Not as a spiritual badge, but as a way to listen.
You’ll notice you’re not just hungry for food.
You’re hungry for stimulation. For comfort.
For that hit of something that keeps the mind from sitting still.
You start to see the little bargains you’ve been making with yourself.
“I should grab a quick snack.”
Do you need to eat?
Do you?
Or do you need to feel less lonely?
Less bored?
Less out of control?
Same goes for your phone.
Your work. Your vices. Your virtues.
When you stop feeding the loop, it starts to show itself.
And then — wonderfully, quietly — you begin to reclaim choice.
You see the pattern.
Thank it.
Tell it, “You helped me once. But I’m safe now.”
And you let it go.
That’s what this work is.
Not fixing you—because you were never broken.
But revealing what was never truly you.
So that what is you — can finally come through.
More soon,
Paul
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