I believe it is safe to say that we are a culmination of experiences. I have found it to be true that we are intrinsically these experiences, and not the body, for the body is simply a modality for these experiences. The body is, indeed, superficial. We can see this in our daily lives in a variety of ways. A romantic relationship of depth values more the personality, and less the physical appearance. To be ugly is not a death sentence: you can still be loved for yourself, as we say, because we understand the Self to be inwards. To be physically disabled is not a death sentence: you still go about your life experiencing things. You may not experience them as I do as a normatively healthy person, but that fact does not make you any less of a person. You are not less than I because your body does not function as I. Even for those most significantly mentally disabled, their disability does not make them less of a person. They simply experience differently than you or I, but these are still these experiences.

If I were to cut off my leg, I would be harmed, but I would not cease to be. I would still believe this leg to be a part of myself, even though it is over there and I am over here. It is typically this “I’m over here and that’s over there” thinking that divides “me” from “you.” Even though my leg is now in the “over there” category, I still recognize it as a part of myself. This is because I have always believed it to be a part of myself, and because it has been a part of this modality of experience. If you asked a man who was born without a leg, he would not say that he is any less of himself than if he had been born with one; this is just who he is. So why does it make me less of myself to no longer have a leg? Has my personality or beliefs changed because this part of my body has been removed? I am still going about life, experiencing. There is now, admittedly, a different sense of experience. There was the terrible pain of cutting my leg off, and there too is now the lack of experience from this extremity. But this only grows my experience. I have removed a section of my senses, but I simply experience the world slightly differently now. The modality is still there, I just altered it. My horizons are expanded.

How does this translate to me and you being the same thing? If we look at someone in the “over there” category, there are still ways we can understand and experience their experience. Humans generally have the capacity for empathy, whether this is an emotionally motivated and moral empathy or an entirely logical and cold empathy. A person can generally, with enough thought and effort, come to understand the experience of another. Through words I can come to understand your experience and empathize with it, even feeling the same emotional responses that you have also felt. We colloquially call this “putting yourself into someone else’s shoes.” Even if I do not sympathize with your experience, I can still understand – as in, logically comprehend – it if I take in all the factors of the situation. And is understanding not a way of being? One may not even understand their own experiences, yet they experience. But when they do understand, they come to a greater sense of Self. So by understanding others’ experiences, are we too not coming to a greater sense of Self? Does one not feel a sense of accomplishment from learning? And is learning not a way of understanding?

With the rise of the internet, people have been able to grow less attached to their bodies. Many people can engage in full relationships, be it friendships or romantic relationships, without knowing the physical presence of another person, without knowing what they look like. I do not introduce myself in an online chatroom with a photo of myself. I simply present my personality to the room, and they receive me with theirs. In this way, I exist in an entirely personal and non-physical way to others. They are receiving me through words and thoughts and emotions, not through my physical presence. But in this way, I am no less of a person. To someone in said chatroom, I am still Luka, and I am no less Luka than I would be if we met in person. My body would just be an extension of what they know me as: myself. When someone is to ask you about yourself, are you going to tell them your height, weight, and build? Or are you going to tell them about the things of which you are most passionate about? Of the hobbies you engage in, which are of course experiences?

Physical experiences are not the only ones we are capable of. We have emotional and mental experiences as well. You may have read up to this point thinking, “if the body is how we experience, and we are these experiences, then isn’t it necessary that we have a body?” I say it is not. Perhaps it is important to have a body if what you are experiencing is the act of having a body, but you can still experience other things without one. For those of us that dream at night, are we not experiencing these dreams without our bodies? Is it necessary that we be physically present in Wonderland as we sleep at night? Of course not. We have this experience without. We have internal thoughts about ourselves that do not relate to the physical world. I may worry that I am too annoying, and that is not a physical trait. I may think I am a smart person, and that is not a physical trait. However, this is where you might find a hangup; you might assume I am saying “I think, therefore I am.” This is not true. You are not the thinker of your thoughts, the thoughts simply come and you experience them. Think of the many times you have had an unwanted thought come to your mind, such as a song that got stuck in your head. You did not place this thought here, it simply occurred. This is the nature of thinking. It is just another experience, and you are experiencing it. You are the observer of your thoughts, just as you are the observer of the world. You are the observer, the experience.

What does it mean to experience? To experience is to take in information about the world around you and store it internally. You may access these experiences later as memories, or even your body will remember them and react accordingly. All of which you have experienced lies within the depths of your mind. And it is clear to anyone that has talked to anyone else that you can share these experiences with others through many modes of communication, thereby experiencing another’s experience. At this point it should be clear that we are not our body, but as stated at the beginning, a collection of experiences. If we are these experiences, and we can share experiences, then we share ourselves. In this, it is quite clear the non-dual nature of our reality. You are, in a sense, transported beyond yourself when you experience another’s experience, say through conversation or even a book. There is a reason why you feel closer to someone as you continue to connect.

If you are not the body, not the mind, but instead experience, and you can share experience with others, then you share yourself, and in turn, you are that experience, so I am you and you are me. This goes beyond human connection. I understand that my dog is happy when I give him treats, and I experience joy alongside him.

This is why it is our express purpose to understand, to grow and learn, so that we can realize the ultimate reality that we are one and the same, to realize the Self, which is experience.