An Existence Based on One Letter from

Excerpt from It's Monday Only in Your Mind: You Are Not Your Thoughts pg.135

When you are born or start your existence in the human form, whatever terminology you prefer, you are free of attachment. What was the first thought you ever had, and what letter do you think it started with?

I know it isn’t really possible to recall this, but I think for me it probably had something to do with the letter I. I was hungry or I wanted to be held, or some other thought of I. The point is, look how that one letter controls our life. Our entire existence is based on that one letter.

In the beginning of life we are not consumed with our I. There are no Mind Patterns that are controlling us, yet. As we grow we gain our sense of identity through our concept of I. This is where our problems with life develop because our I comes to control our self. As long as we are alive there is a self that is our true nature, but when the default setting of our mind is I, it blocks out our connection to life. We live strictly from our egoic side, and that bias creates suffering. Our spiritual nature can’t shine through our I. Although we are all spiritual beings by nature, our I blocks and subdues us from this nature. Look back to when you were a child, look at the memories that start with the word I; I was fat, I wasn’t smart, I was good in sports or I wasn’t good in sports, and so on. Like the other list, this one is endless also. The older we get the more our I becomes the dominant mode of living.

This is the real culprit of our problems. It doesn’t matter whether you're the President of the United States, a homeless person, a billionaire, or if you barely make ends meet, when the driving force behind your existence is your I, you will be driven by Conditioned Mind Patterns and you will suffer and cause suffering to others.