When you think that who you are is connected to something you are not, you have identified with it. To make this clear, think about how you felt the last time you accidentally scuffed your brand-new shoes or tore your brand-new pants. It felt like it was you who got damaged! Remember? That's what it means to be identified with something or someone. It hurts! None of this is too difficult to understand when it comes to things outside of us; but when it comes to the word "I," suddenly the mental fog rolls in.
When you think of yourself, when you say the word "I," there is a great storehouse of accumulated memories and experiences that rush forth forming an almost solid wall of thoughts and feelings. In that moment of thinking about your "self," you feel real because as these waves of your accumulated past wash through you, it gives you the feeling of being you; but this feeling is only a temporary condition. No matter how many times or how strongly you may feel it, this sensation of "I" is not you. You are not your past. You have only become unconsciously identified with it at that moment. It is your identification with these sensations that provides you with a convincing but nevertheless temporary sense of self. This false identity/self is a borrowed life; it is derived from something that in itself is only temporary.
The Truth tells us that we must never borrow anything -- let alone our Identity. No wonder Real Life seems to have lost that vibrant quality of being new every moment. We only thought we were living a Real Life! Trying to find and own your True Self while living in and from this borrowed, counterfeit identity is like waiting for the sun to come out in a deep subterranean cave. There is lots of excited anticipation, but none of the light and warmth that comes with True Self-Realization.
