If you will but steadfastly regard the mystery that is in you, it will eventually yield and display its secret. When a man begins to ask himself what he is, he has taken the first step upon a path which will end only when he has found an answer. For there is a permanent revelation in his heart, but he heeds it not. If he will take the trouble to make a deep analysis of himself, and to ponder calmly over it, he will eventually discover that there is a part of himself which receives the flow of impressions from the external world, and which receives the feelings and thoughts that arise therefrom. This, is the unseen witness, the silent spectator, the Overself.
The connection between mind and body is so intimate that popular thought, whether learned or not, has readily accepted the assumption that the brain is mind, and body is self, yet it is only an assumption. It is possible that, if self-consciousness can exist separately, popular thought is mistaken and that the appearance is deceptive. This last thought we must consider, and consider without any bias either for or against the body.
We must dig with the drill of mind beneath the attraction of the physical world, and try to find the eternal reality which it hides using the scalpel of keen thought, prying into your inner self, you may arrive at the tentative position that the body is only part of your self, and that the real essential source of the ego notion has so far not been traced out.
The Secret Path by Paul Brunton
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