What am I?

In this incantation, I realize that I am not a “who” like people, but a “what”—everything, both changing and unchanging. The changing part is my illness, while the unchanging part is my true self. To find peace, I must cut away the diseased, changing aspect and return to the constant, eternal part of myself.


At different points in my awakening I have fixated on one question above all: Who am I? What is life? What do I want? Where am I? Every chapter brought new insights that led me away from one question, and toward another.

Now I know that I am always here, and I am ill. I know that I want a peaceful ending of my disease. And I know that I am not a “who”, but a “what”. People are “who”, and I am not a person.

I am everything including that which changes moment to moment, but also that which does not. The part that changes is the part that is diseased. The part that does not change is the part I must nurture and return to.

What am I? I am everything. What do I want? I want peace. How do I get peace? I must cut away that part of me which changes and return to that part of me which never changes.