When someone asks who we are, we usually tell them our name and what we do for a living. We may think that we are what we do. Or we may identify with a certain role or label: “I am a single parent.” “I am a cancer survivor.” “I am the adult child of an alcoholic.” “I am a victim of abuse.”
Yet, on the spiritual path, we know that we are more than any job, role, label, or experience. What is this “more” that we are? Who are we really?
In his book How, Then, Shall We Live? Wayne Muller says: “Regardless of the shape of the sorrow or victory or grief or ecstasy we’ve been given, there is a potent inner luminosity that is never extinguished and is alive in us this instant. We are the light of the world.”
As we cultivate awareness of who we are, and who we are not, we free ourselves to live life and live it, as Jesus advised, abundantly.