‘Who Am I?’ Buddhist View of Self

Special New Year Offer: now only $59

Finding Ourselves and Losing Ourselves

An online course consisting of 8 video talks, 8 guided meditations, written materials and exercises. You can also contact Stephen by email to ask questions during the course.

The course is available at any time! Try the first free lesson before deciding!

As soon as we start to explore who or what we are, a new landscape is revealed, rich with insights: 'Who is in charge of my life?' 'How can I dissolve the sense of separation between me and the world?' 'How can we get ourselves out of the way?' ‘What is the experience of the limitless?’ Buddhist practice to discover the self and what is beyond (‘Anatta’) helps us peel offlayers of conditioning and beliefs and live more wisely, more lightly and more freely.

There is no question more engaging, universal and mysterious than the question: 'Who Am I?'

This is not a theoretical question. Ignorance concerning who I really am, and the assumption that we are subjects separate from an external world against which we struggle, leads us to live automatically. We see ourselves in a shifting unreliable world to which we respond with our needs, desires, aversions and attachments. As soon as we start to question and explore who or what we are, a new landscape is revealed and our life can get dramatically more deep and interesting. We find ourselves in a world of paradox, mystery, and yet unimagined freedom. 'Who is in charge of my life?' 'What in me is changing and what is constant?' 'Which of the many voices within me can I rely on?' 'How can I let go of the sense of separation between me and the world?' 'Is my life leading me somewhere?' 'How much can I change things?' Questions such as these become a journey of discovery. They help us peel off the layers of conditioning and beliefs and live more wisely, more lightly and more freely.

In the dharma, we meet ourselves as a constantly changing field of experience, not as an intellectual puzzle. As we do this we might realize that the 'me and mine' are responses and processes, not entities. Although it feels like someone is running our experience, a deeper mindfulness may show us that this is not the case. We are actually more transparent than we first thought. This is is insight into anatta, non-self, and sunyata, emptiness. It removes the veil or filter through which we usually view the world, which then appears meaningful, joyful, and unlimited. In this course we will explore these questions concerning self and world, by means of talks, meditations, reading materials and exercises.