The way in which we pursue what we are drawn to in life begins with some form of identification. When we are inspired to investigate something, whatever it may be, the process begins with our minds constructing an image of the thing that it longs to explore. And in order to continue the exploration, the mind must keep that image in front of itself, and so it literally becomes identified and attached to the image it has created.
We cannot avoid this kind of identification when we first set out on the path of self-discovery, and yet it is this very identification that limits us. Whenever we identify with something, the mind sees itself as being separate from what it is identifying with. This separation is a limitation because, in wanting to truly learn something new, what we really want is to become one with what we are exploring.
The mind relates to the world that it sees as being outside of itself through imagery. Our task is the gradual letting go of the identification with the images that produce the false feeling of being separate from the rest of life. As we begin to let go, we will come to realize that whenever we set out to explore something, what we are really doing is exploring ourselves.
