In living Life, everything around you in the physical world is constantly changing. You and who you think you are is based on the beliefs of who or what you are, and what the world is.
If you believe that you are a victim to circumstance and that things happen in and around the world that are not of your control and doing, then all you can be is a person in a world amongst the changing experiences waiting for your inevitable human death.
What you focus on grows.
If you become aware of yourself amongst the changing thoughts, desires and experiences and you wish to know more of what or who you are then you will focus on the Self which does not change with the thoughts, desires and experiences.
Once you become aware of the Self and its presence, if you do nothing then you will let your awareness go where it will go without any discipline. The chances of it moving from its immersion in the activity of the senses and outward activity of the world on its own are slim to none. To do nothing in this case means that you will take what you know and experience in this now and project it into the future and your experiences of the future will contain the past impression of your idea of who you are.
Because life is change and the mind follows the ideas it experiences it will pick and choose what it likes in what to identify with. Because we have a habit of distracting ourselves by the beliefs we have been taught it is not an automatic habit to JUST BE. To the waking state mind to just be means to relax into the experience, but the mind which holds onto past impressions cannot be still and present when it is carrying so many thoughts about the world and itself and is bringing them into the present experience. To be without changing the present experience of the self means you will be what you believe yourself and the world to be and since we know that beliefs inevitably change then who you are being based on a belief is just illusion.
To know the Self means to be intimate with the Self. As you know, in any relationship that you have with anyone it takes a bit of time to know the other person. You must be open to listen and set aside your own beliefs to know another and their beliefs and feelings. To understand how another person thinks means diving into their world and their understandings, their past and their feelings. Otherwise you can only assume that you know the person based on your own experience of life and most probably you will be projecting onto them that they will have the same reactions, thoughts and feelings about each moment as you do.
Excerpt from the Library, continue reading: HERE
