Beyond the Mirror: Remembering “I Am”

The real journey is not about seeking. It is about remembering. And in remembering, you discover you were never lost.

9/8/2025

Remember
Remember

We live most of our lives inside a projection, mistaking the reflection for reality. Like standing before a mirror and believing the image inside it is the real you, we confuse the stories we tell ourselves – I am not enough, I am a failure, I am this or that – with the deeper truth of simply I am.

This confusion has consequences. Once we lose sight of the source of our being, the mind spins endless stories: I must improve. I must find love. I must reach home. Each of these thoughts feels urgent and important, but in reality, they are shadows of a forgotten origin. They are projections of the pure awareness that lies at the root of our existence.

The trouble begins when we identify with these projections.
Instead of resting in the simple presence of I am, we cling to I am this or I am not that. We get caught in endless cycles of justification, comparison, and striving. This creates the illusion of separation – between us and others, between us and life, even between us and God.

But what if nothing needs to change? What if the real invitation is not to fix or improve anything, but to notice where all of it comes from?

Imagine looking into a mirror. You see your reflection. Then imagine that the reflection begins to live on its own, forgetting the one who is actually looking. The reflection now claims to be you. It runs through the world, carrying your name, your face, your stories – but it has no life of its own.

This is how most of us live: identified with the reflection, forgetting the one who is seeing. The “I” we defend so fiercely is only a projection. When we forget its origin, we become trapped in the mirror image, a life cut off from its source.

The mind believes it can think its way out of this maze. But thinking only creates more reflections. The harder we try to fix, improve, or solve, the deeper we get entangled. It’s like trying to escape a labyrinth by drawing more walls.

Freedom doesn’t come from adding new thoughts.
It comes from recognizing that thoughts themselves are not the source. They are projections. The real “I am” reveals itself only in the absence of thought, in the quiet moments when we stop chasing and simply rest.

Every idea of separation – between me and you, between human and divine – is part of the same projection. Religions often reinforce this split, describing a God out there and a small human here. But this belief keeps us trapped, always striving, never arriving.

The truth is simpler: you are not separate from life, from others, from the divine. Everything shares the same substance. Recognizing this is like remembering your way home – not by moving toward a destination, but by seeing that you never left.

Returning Home

So what does it mean to return home? It is not about spiritual achievements or self-improvement. It is about becoming aware of the “I am” that underlies every thought and projection.

Try this: locate in your body where the simple sense of I am is felt. Notice how it exists before any labels. Before I am good or I am bad. Before I must succeed or I have failed. Just I am.

When the projection and the “I am” are seen as separate, there is struggle. But when you realize they share the same substance, the struggle dissolves. Problems lose their weight. What remains is presence, simplicity, peace.

The Courage to Let Go
This is not always easy. To let go of the stories we’ve built can feel like stepping into nothingness. And yet, in that nothingness lies freedom. Beyond the polarities of success and failure, good and bad, lies the simple truth of being.

You don’t need to become anything. You don’t need to arrive anywhere. The way home is already here, revealed whenever you stop grasping at thoughts and remember: I am.

The real journey is not about seeking. It is about remembering. And in remembering, you discover you were never lost.

Photo by Tabea Magura