For thousands of years, sages have told us that reality is not what we think it is; that the world is not what we think it is, and that our experiences of pleasure and pain are not what we think they are. And, most fundamentally, that we are not what we think we are. They have told us that this misunderstanding is the root of all misery and suffering, horror and aggression and hatred and violence. They have told us that knowing the truth will set us free from the ideas that "I am in bondage," "I must seek pleasure and avoid pain," and "you are my enemy."

We have constructed elaborate paths, practices and meditations, and told ourselves that, if we stick with these techniques, someday we will break through to the truth and be free.

We have brought into being initiations and transmissions that produce states that we imagine to be those of the enlightened sages. We cling to them, suffer when they depart and try with all our hearts to bring them back — generally by creating new techniques and practices that produce states and samadhis — despite the self-evident reality that these states come and go.

The sages have said that the truth is within us and, ignoring that simple instruction, we have searched for the truth in thought and in states. We have failed, and we have continued to suffer, clinging to our fundamental misunderstanding of what we are and refusing to hear that the truth is within us.

Recently there appeared a great being named Ramana Maharshi, who pointed out to us that if we are the truth, looking within is searching for our self — not our true self, higher self, real self or holy self — but just our self. He recommended that we find within us what we refer to when we speak the word "I." He encourages us to investigate it, to inquire into it, to move our consciousness like a sword into its heart and discover therein its actual substance and have a taste of what is at its core.

What differentiates this from what had gone before is that it is so practical. If what Ramana suggests is true, then it is available to anyone who turns their attention inward, looking only for the selfness that goes by the name "I" and staying there: inquiring, looking directly to see what it is, what it is made of and what is the reality of "I". This investigation ends all misunderstanding.

There is nothing complicated about it, nothing that requires some advanced state of spiritual maturity. It only takes the determination to know the truth in this lifetime, to hear that the truth is to be found within you and nowhere else, and to turn your attention, like a sword, to yourself. Not to some made-up idea of self, but to your self that is absolutely, totally familiar to you; your self that has never changed, never moved and never been affected by any state. States of bliss, horror, ignorance and clarity all come and go within this that you are. All live and move and have their being within you. And all, at their core, are you.

What differentiates this from all other practices is that it is absolutely verifiable. I promise you. If you will investigate yourself, your result will be the same as Ramana's. If you will investigate every state that arises within you, every passing emotion, you will find at their core exactly the same as you. You will find exactly what Ramana found, exactly what looks out from the eyes of all beings everywhere. You will know the truth, and you will be free.

Copyright 2005 John Sherman. All rights reserved.