Not What We Are

Suffering is to the mind what pain is to the body,
a signal that something needs attending to,
a message that we have mistaken our Self
for a cluster of thoughts and feelings.
In other words, suffering is not here to thwart us;
it is not a punishment. On the contrary, it is here
to help us. It is a wake-up call.

To begin with, it is a gentle call, but in time
it gets more and more severe. Irrespective of
its intensity, the wake-up call is always saying
the same thing: we have mistaken ourselves
for a cluster of thoughts and feelings; we have
overlooked or forgotten who we truly are.

The separate self is not what we are.

Rupert Spira