Perception
Which are we? The perceived? Or the perceiver? The perceiver, of course.
Then think about this. Are we our thoughts? If so, how can we be? They are what is perceived. Are we our anger, our fear, our love? That, too, is perceived. If we are the perceiver, where is it?
It is not in the mind, for that is a mere word for the perceived: thoughts, moods, feelings, emotions, even half-thoughts, half-moods, and half-feelings and half-emotions, down to the most fleeting of impressions.
What are we, then? When we look we find we are nothing that is perceived. Yet we perceive.
From the Kena Upanishad--
What cannot be spoken with words, but that whereby words are spoken: Know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit, and not what people here adore.
What cannot be thought with the mind, but that whereby the mind can think. . . .
What cannot be seen with the eye, but that whereby the eye can see. . . .
What cannot be heard with the ear, but that whereby the ear can hear. . . .
What cannot be indrawn with breath, but that whereby breath is indrawn; know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit, and not what people here adore.
