WHAT ARE WE?
A Hypothesis for Your Consideration…
9/7/26
This is generally not the question we ask ourselves or others. In 99% of the time we ask who are we? It is a perspective that is primarily queried when we’re moving through some sort of crisis in our lives that challenges the values and the assumptions that we live by. When things are going according to our expectation, it is usually the furthest thing from our minds.
When we ask , ”Who am I,” our basis for asking is almost always centered on what we do in in the tangible world and how we are perceived by others as a function of that “doing.” We use the outer tangible world and its circumstances to judge our success or not in aligning with who and what we’ve been told and taught we should be and do. So, the “who” is only reflective of our outer world comparisons.
The information we use to do that comes to us through our five physical senses. It is our senses that keep us anchored in the physical world. It’s all based on what we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell. But what happens when we turn off those senses? What happens when we close our eyes and cover our ears? Who are we then? With no one to compare ourselves with, it is then that our question becomes, “What are we?”
You might say that it is our mind that we use to make that comparison with but the “evidence” it uses is based on the memory of our past sensory experiences. But, in that moment, are we actually experiencing the outer world? If our senses are “muted,” then I think not. “What” then is left? It is whatever part of us that is doing the observing. To define this, our mind must have something to compare. Without our senses or our memory of our worldly experience, we have nothing to compare with. All we are left with then is “What” we are in that moment: the observer or what I like to call the “Witness.” From this perspective we can easily see that the “Witness” is not indigenous to the tangible world.
For many of us, being in this space without the ability to hold on to a physically discriminated reality is terrifying. Yet, every night we all go to sleep and our senses are shut down. It is the “Witness” that goes somewhere else. For those of us that totally depend on the tangible world for our identity, this is an enigma.
For the larger majority of us, our concept of reality depends solely on our physical being. But we must remember the facts. Our sensors of the tangible world were barely, if at all, triggered into existence let alone developed before we exited the womb. At that time the “Witness” was all that we were or aware of.
Our perception in existing started, essentially, independently of our physical world. To further contemplate and understand this, we can use a tangible world analogy. Those of you who understand some metaphysical principles will recognize this analogy in the axiom “as it is above, so it is below.”
Consider if you will, acquiring a new car. Before you drive it off the lot you adjust the seat, the mirrors and get yourself accustomed to the feel, the dials and indicators. Feeling somewhat comfortable, you drive off the lot and begin to navigate through and around the traffic of other vehicles. You start to get a feel for how the car operates. At some points it’s smooth and easy and at others, somewhat awkward and sluggish. You notice that your new vehicle operates a little differently than the ones you’ve had before. It will take some time and practice in getting used to this one.
Still feeling a little shaky but somewhat in control, you continue on to places that make available some of the things that you need to sustain yourself. You visit the grocery store, the gas station, the clothing store and many more places. All the while you’re learning the rules about moving through traffic with your new vehicle. You have some successes and some near misses but you’re intent on getting this right. Soon, you’ve gotten all that you are able and it’s time to head back to your house.
Exhausted from having to pay so much attention to what is happening around you, you finally arrive at your house. You pull into the driveway, leave your new vehicle and go inside. You get cleaned up, have some supper, then relax a bit and finally put yourself to bed.
If you step back from our example and you allow yourself to be a bit flexible in your conceptual comparison, you might have recognized that you the purchaser are the “Witness” and your car is actually your body. Let’s follow through on our comparison.
When you climb into your vehicle you first feel the seat, the new car smell, the space around you and perceive a panorama of what you are surrounded by. This is your tactile senses starting to come alive. You feel how it gives you boundaries against the world around you. You peruse and assess the dials and gauges. These are your newly awakening senses telling you what might be occurring when your vehicle is moving. The lights, a clean windshield and wipers let you see clearly. The gas gauge tells you the state of nourishment that your vehicle has. The accelerator, brakes and steering wheel allow you to regulate your bones and muscle action. The key is your vehicle’s call to action. All these things are acts that synthesize your awareness within your new body.
As you drive around town, you get a feel for how to conduct movement. Your steering wheel gives you direction. Your accelerator and brakes regulate your speed. Sometimes you over-shoot or over-correct and sometimes you’re right on target. Sometimes you bump into furniture and sometimes you sail right through. Slowly, you perfect the movement of your vehicle.
As you move around town, you pick up things that you need to sustain yourself. You get gasoline from a bottle or a breast. You receive blankets to keep you warm and comfortable. When you finish your rounds and pull into your driveway, you exit your body giving it time to cool down and rebalance itself and its fluids. You allow your car to go dormant as you go off to sleep. The question most of us have is, “Where do we go?”
Our little story is an analogy to the scenario of how we, the “Witness,” enter and then inhabit a newly created human body. Both we and our body use different patterns to perceive and move about. Each new vehicle our “Witness” moves into requires us to negotiate a synthesis to get the “Witness” and the body to work together. Some pairings are easy matches and some are more difficult. Before you “buy,” you have a lot to choose from. Your past patterns have a lot to do with what you might choose.
There are many curious synchronicities that occur between us and our vehicle. If your brakes fail, you are likely moving through life too quickly and unable to stop. If your battery fails, you’ve probably run out of energy. If your windshield is dirty or your headlights don’t work, you can’t see your path clearly. If your body starts to rust, you might have a skin condition. If you overheat, you’re burning the candle at both ends. If you get a bad load of gas, your diet might need adjusting. There are many more synchronicities. All you have to do is compare what breaks or doesn’t work properly in your car and you can see what kinds of repairs or life adjustments are necessary for you to make. Lastly, when your car dies, you bury it in the automobile junkyard and acquire a new vehicle.
Most of us know that something will be different when we die but don’t know what. Religions try to calm our thinking with the promise of some sort of Heaven or Nirvana. Philosophers frame it in a sort of abstract reunion with nature, but few of us actually know enough to ease the anticipated dread that arrives before, sometimes long before, our passing. For each of us it’s different since our independent upbringings have given all of us different fears and perspectives based on our family lineage and our personal experiences.
For almost all of mankind, knowing who or what we are beyond being in a body or a car is a total mystery except perhaps for the few who have accomplished the depth available in meditation. It is likely that only they have “felt” the dichotomy firsthand. They can say that they know that there is something more, however, the “What” may still be a mystery, even for them.
Having worked many years in the metaphysical field, I cannot say that I know where I, the “Witness,” will go upon leaving my body. However, I know that we do not cease to exist. This alone gives me tremendous relief and comfort. Exactly what happens after is still up for grabs. But what I did find is an author who has worked with thousands of clients through hypnosis and their journey to a “place” free of our bodies. He has documented many dialogues with clients through past life regression that speak of such a place they experienced going between lives. These experiences and what happens there seem to fill in where NDEs or near-death experiences leave off. They tell of a far more organized structure of life than what religions or traditional metaphysicians have alluded to in the past.
In Journey of Souls (1994) Michael Newton’s sessions cover our travels after leaving our body, the people and circumstances we meet, our experiences, our purpose and the processing we do before choosing to enter another body. His exchanges with clients confirm the validity and often add to most of the perspectives held by the majority of our established metaphysical community.
I dare not suppose to think that I know why we are here. I leave that to the will and forces that design and propel the natural laws of our universe. But I will say that based on what I’ve read and experienced that our will and decisiveness do play a major part in how our “Witness” is interwoven into the fabric of existence. I believe that our “job” here is to arrive at a place within ourselves where our surrender to the natural forces of the universe is the major contributing key to what our input will add to the perfection of our spirit’s expression.
Whether you believe that we reincarnate or not, Journey of Souls will give you pause to consider that where we do go will likely provide the peace we all strive for and a reunion with souls that we’ve had the strongest and most loving connections with in our deepest hopes and yearnings. This is “What” I believe awaits us…
