Beautifully put. There are things I could add to what you’ve said, but nothing I would change.

“The Observer.” It was something gleaned (for me) from many sources: the Bible, Eckart Tolle, Pema Chodron, Thich Nhat Hanh, and others. It’s something missing from what we teach in Western cultures. You are not the voice in your mind. You are not your body. You are not your emotions.

You are The Observer, watching all of those thoughts, emotions, and the events of the present unfold. And realizing that it is not you, you do not have to suffer from it.

All things that sound simple on paper, and often get mocked as “new age” and “touchy feely” despite being millennia old, and frankly about detaching from the feels. They take constant practice, which I need to get back to in my own life.

That ineffable thing that is us, I believe is the source of our creativity, our joy in discovery, our love (our true, agape love). We don’t understand the original, so I remain skeptical of our ability to make a copy.

Not that I believe we will never know, or can’t - I’m not a science denier - I just think we haven’t caught up to some of the truths the sages of old discovered through deep contemplation. They’re a bit like Sherlock Holmes - they deduced the answers, but the “leg work” that Holmes himself dreaded but knew was necessary is still to be done.