Dear M,
When I saw you earlier, I felt that sense of confinement that dwelt within you. Your questions still resonate in me: ”What can we do?”, ”Where can we go?”, ”How do you manage to transcend yourself?” In your words, I recognized that deep thirst we all know — the one to transcend our limits, to break free from this invisible cage we build around ourselves.
My answer, the one that vibrates at the deepest part of my being, is that I transcend myself by focusing on what transcends me. This truth may seem abstract, but it is the most concrete there is. There exists within us and around us something greater than our small person with its tormented thoughts and changing emotions. This Presence — call it what you will — is not perceived by our senses, but it is there, constant, immutable. It invades me and I bathe in it at the same time, in this mysterious dance between the interior and exterior.
You see, M, my person, my image, my future, my achievements, my possessions — all of this takes second place to the essential: keeping my inner connection. This connection, I cultivate it through the constant reminder of this Presence, relying on the breath — this only thing that accompanies us faithfully from the first to the last moment. I also use gratitude as a golden thread, because when you say thank you to someone, you cannot forget them. And this recognition instantly connects us to what transcends us.
We all carry within us a stable, immutable dimension that traverses the storms of daily life and the tides of our moods. When we identify solely with our small self, we find ourselves caught in eternal duality: good and evil, joy and sadness, success and failure. We become that boat tossed by the waves, at the mercy of every squall. But when we keep our focus on what transcends us, on that part of us that is infinite and eternal, we access an inner stability that defies all logic. We then realize that even if the waves are there, unleashed, our deep essence remains intact, unshakeable.
This is not a question of religion or spirituality in the dogmatic sense — it is a question of inner perspective, of profound recognition. It is accepting that I am much more than what I feel in this moment, much more than my fears, my doubts or my impulses. It is touching this overwhelming truth: my true being cannot be confined.
How to do this concretely? The paths are multiple and personal. This can happen through moments of silence where you find yourself face to face with yourself, through contemplation that opens the doors of the interior, through connection to nature that reminds us of our belonging to something greater. Or simply by consciously remembering this greater dimension within you. Each time you feel confined, try to bring your attention back to that part of you that is free and unlimited. It has never stopped being there, patiently waiting for you to recognize it.
You know, M, we tend to want to liberate our small self from its narrow limits, to force the bars of our cage. But as it has been rightly said: ”We cannot liberate the personality, but we can liberate ourselves from the personality”. How? By directing our attention beyond it, by recognizing that we are not our thoughts, our emotions or our circumstances, but the consciousness that observes them.
We all have this miraculous capacity to transcend ourselves, not by fleeing what we feel — because flight leads nowhere — but by anchoring ourselves in what is eternal within us. To continue ignoring this essential dimension of ourselves is to doom ourselves to eternal dissatisfaction punctuated by moments of ephemeral relaxation. It is choosing to live on the surface while the depths extend their arms to us.
The confinement you feel is not a fatality, M. It is a call, an invitation to dive deeper, to rediscover this inner freedom that depends on no external circumstance. It is your birthright, your most precious inheritance.
With all my affection and confidence in your capacity for transcendence.