“Ask yourself… Who am I?”

That was the message left behind by the extraordinary Hindu mystic, Ramana Maharshi. It was his defining advice before he left this world and ‘passed over’. Be ultra-curious and inquire deeply into this one question: Who do I take my self to be?

Why would one of the most luminous Beings the Earth has ever known leave that specific clue? What was it he discovered for himself and wanted to pass on to us about the possible depth and range of the human soul?

Well, as a younger man, the way I saw it, there was only one way to find out…dive in and explore! Many years later, after lots of trials and many errors and with the guidance of various excellent Teachings, I’m still peeling off the layers of my onion and deepening my own inquiry into that investigation…who am I?

What I’ve come to understand is that…it depends.

There’s ‘me’, Jackson Trent, as my normal egoic identity and all my history; born of certain parents, I’m now x number of years old, living in northern California. That sense of familiar, personal individuality is solid and relatively stable.

This accustomed and recognizable psyche, over time, naturally creates what psychologists refer to as a kind of ‘shell’ around itself. The egoic ‘me’ — the person whom I believe myself to be is inside the crust of that shell, where my ego self feels safe and secure. That’s all perfectly normal on the level of basic human development. Every relatively normal person is within their own shell, so to speak. That’s how we can live with ourselves, no matter what our capabilities, intelligence, character strengths and weaknesses.

But what if residing inside of this shell is only a ‘way station’– a phase of life you can pass through on your way to deeper dimensions of one’s Self? What happens if, like a chick ready to hatch, you can peck through this shell and it starts to crack open, to fall away?

Then, who am I becomes a whole new, infinitely expanded question, as a fresh world begins to open up, to reveal itself. How mystifying, scary, exciting…and more! What if that chick is actually able to become an eagle, whose birthright is to eventually spread its wings and soar?

I believe our beautiful, fragile planet is in trouble. My personal sense is that we all need to step up and do our part in some way to stem the tide of systematic destruction. But first, evolution has to begin on the personal, individual level. Before I can truly ‘show up’ for the world, I need to ‘snap out of it,’ to wake up my own sleepy little self. Delving into that mystery of who am I becomes the core question and it’s what this blog is all about.

So I invite you to begin to Snap Out of It with me. In the coming weeks and months, I’ll be writing about raising your conscious awareness beyond what you now believe is the only reality. I’ll be exploring how to discover who you really are, how to silence your inner critic, the art of balancing one’s internal ‘Centers’ and so much more. I’ll share important nuggets of knowledge I wish I had known far earlier in the span of 35 years of my own spiritual journey.

Everyone has something to offer, to give back to the world. My gift is this blog. Please note, I’m not saying ‘This is the Truth’. I am saying, this is the Truth, as I’ve come to understand it for myself.

Try it on. If it fits…great!