At the core of human consciousness lies the experience of being someone: I. We are here. We are awake. And we know it.
And yet there's not much time to ponder this extraordinary circumstance. We're born, we hit the ground running and must immediately engage in the experience of life on Earth. Through these animal bodies we absorb sights, sounds, smells, tastes and sensations. We feel what it is to be happy, sad, scared, angry, excited, bewildered, loved, alone and a thousand other feelings. We experience the terrifying urgency of our own bodily needs. We realise this place isn't inherently safe. And that the most extraordinary things might be possible. And that people are as terrifying as they are wonderful. And that we'll die.
Life is such a cacophony of sensory and psychological stimulus that we can barely keep up with it all.
And yet, there we always are. Absorbed in one thought or another. One feeling or another. One action or another. Worrying, celebrating, manipulating, believing, trying, doubting, loving, fighting, wondering, panicking, committing.
Beyond all the noise, there we always are. We may be buried under the weight of our thoughts, feelings and decisions… but nevertheless a pristine, lucid awareness remains constant, alive and ageless.
Consciousness. Me. I.