Most of you have explored in depth the sense of self in various environments. Through travel and through the moves you have made over the course of your lives, you have tried to get a clear sense of who you are in various places — who you are alone, who you are with others such as family, friends, and perhaps with a teacher or a realized being. You have attempted to gain insight into who you are not just in various environments and various worlds but also in various experiences.

Your Perception of Your Environment Shapes Your Perception of Yourself

What you have discovered is that you are always the same. You're always exactly who you are, and you're never anything different, even if you feel a sense of shifting toward more cohesiveness or more alignment with an environment or a world of exploration. The old saying "Wherever you go, there you are" is ultimately true. Yet in One Life consciousness, all life is One Life, and therefore there is no separation between environment and self.

If an environment feels like home, feels familiar and comfortable, than your sense of self tends to feel familiar and comfortable. In an environment that is challenging and contrary to some of your deepest beliefs, then oftentimes your sense of self can feel challenged and contrary and difficult. Yet all of those feelings, all of those overlays on the sense of self, are based on the commentary that is going on within you about the environment, about everything you are perceiving.