Planet Earth - the Ultimate Reality Show

“My” body. Just the fact that we use the possessive case when talking about it indicates that we are not in fact, our bodies. The ownership of the body suggests impermanence.  It’s something we “have.”  The idea of Self – we don’t feel our Self as something we own when we think about our Self. And yes, we say things like my Self, or even my Soul.  But as soon as we give it a name or identity, it is no longer that which can't be named. By naming it (nama rupa) we have made it physical.  Our Self is something we can feel it, know it, in fact we are it. Our Self exists before words and thought constructs.

So why is making the leap that we are not our bodies so hard? I think it's because we really like them and are attached to them. How do we treat our possessions? Notice the thingswe really love. Do we use them? Protect them? Save them for later? Clean them? Trash them? These are exactly the things we do to our bodies, and until we can truly lose our fear of death – abinivesha – we are attached to the physical plane.

Maybe we don’t fear death, but we fear pain. If we fear pain, that is also an indicator that we are attached to the physical plane and the pull it has on us - on our samskaras. It indicates that we are still pulled by the contents of our mind, the tattwas (elements) and things that are physical. The attachment shows up not as something we “love” but as something we “fear” or “hate.”  As soon as we give our power over to it, we see we have attachment to something, as we have made it “real.” When we can see the whole thing from a neutral place, suffering will end. Knowing that we are eternal and much more than the play we cast ourselves in. Planet Earth is a reality show and we are all on it. Who is watching? We are. Who is watching us watch? That is the question.