You are fire.

There is something I always thought about, but never fully dove into.
It is the image I hold of “being a fire”.

“You have the paradox of a fire — it never has the same shape, but it can recognize itself as ‘fire’.”

This phrase sum two major aspect of being a fire that are directly linked to many spirituality ideas.
I want to try to discuss those aspects and give a way to bring them in a less spiritual context.

It never has the same shape

Fire for me is the element in nature that mostly changes in a visible way.
I think that we are the same, big and beautiful fires, but just we don’t know it.
This is linked to the fact that we tend to recognize with ideas of ourselves that can span for more than the present moment.
Those ideas are created many times by how we perceive ourselves compared to the others, and the more we behave in a similar way the more those ideas became fixed.
Nothing new at the horizon, there are plenty of self-help books about that.

Eckhart Tolle talks in a very clear and concise way about the mechanisms underlying ego in his book ‘A New Earth’:

“One of the most basic mind structures through which the ego comes into existence is identification.
…
So when I identify with something, I ‘make it the same’. The same as what ? The same as I.

Tolle does an amazing job in describing this identification mechanism.
It is like seeing clouds that resemble other objects, and believing that are really other objects: you identify with something it is not.

The easiest form of identification to spot thus is with objects: those are external and clear. Even the body is a form of identification.
And they change, but we are attached to them.
A simple example could be…our body.
We identify with our body, but it evolves and changes throughout time.
This can give us a glimpse of the other type of identification: ideas.
When we are older, we maybe attach to the remembering of our younger body (or in a better shape…).
Identification with ideas is one of the most subtle and difficult to change identification.
There are different layers of ideas: ideas about ourselves, about the others, the world, the society…
Each layer of ideas can change in time, and can be more and more difficult to spot.
I’ll give you some examples.

In English language you say “I am a software engineer”.
I am is the mantra of identification.
There are a lot of consequences from this identification. How should I behave ? What should I wear ? How should I talk ?
These questions are subconscious, but we have a definition of “being a software engineer” and we stick to that many times. Then we see other engineers and we update our definitions.
Through the time I met friends that were so fixated into their job idea, that they would never consider a career change even if they were completely miserable.
“I studied so many years, worked so much as this…can I throw away everything?”
This is a legit question, and of course I don’t encourage you to quit your job now because you want to be a musician.
But still, you are much more than that, and should have at least the freedom in the mind to escape this definition.

Another subtle example is about roles.
This is “small” but significant.
When you are in a restaurant, and talk with a waiter/waitress, if you see yourself you will see that you behave in a different way.
Try that on someone else.
You become the “customer” that talks to a “waiter/waitress”.
How should I behave ? How should I tallk ?
And the same happens on the other side!
The waiter/waitress will do the same with you.
So in this case there are 4 persons talking…
Again, I am not encouraging you to behave at your worst with others, but just pay attention to shift towards identification with ideas, and in this case, roles.

Identification is also an optimization strategy, used so that a ‘behaviour-code’ is established and the interaction is easier and less mindful.

My whole point thus is just to be aware of identification. Just that will change tremendously your research towards the fire.

It can recognize itself as ‘fire’

Once you recognize that you are more that your identifications, then you can break free and try to see your fire.
Choosing to step out of identification is already a way of seeing the fire, but a more solid tool to feel it is meditation, in any form you like.
Mindfulness seems to becoming widespread, being Vipassana without the original philosophy it comes from.
Trascendental meditation is another way you can start with meditation.
In general awareness is the strongest tool we have.
Awareness is simply where you put your attention. If you focus on physical sensations you are stepping out of the mind.
Where you put your attention, you spend your energies.
This is something that I always try to remember. If I think too much about the future, like something that I would like to happen (or am afraid of) I am living in the future and missing the present.
Same for the past.
A good or bad memory in which I indulge and that takes all my attention is the same: I spend energy on it, teleport back in time, and completely miss the present moment.

Stepping out of the mind is the biggest battle, but necessary one.
To “be” you can’t think.
“Being” is an experience, and can only be felt.
Again, not saying that you should never think again.
But use your brain instead of being used by it.

There is an amazing movie called Revolver by Guy Ritchie. It is exactly talking about the mind-ego-fire battle. Watch it with this point of view, and you will see how amazing it is!
There is a scene in the elevator in which the main character breaks free of identification of the ego.
It is a powerful scene, strong in a way, but without knowing what the movie is really about, it could just seem like you ware watching a crazy guy talking to himself. And that never happens to anyone ;)

To close, to feel your fire and see it you (we!) must break out of identification with ideas and object.
Roles, objects, works, nationality, religion, beliefs.
Lastly, a powerful quote from Epictetus that I love, talking about happiness:

“Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can’t control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible. — Epictetus, The Art of Living

Conclusions

This brief article can be the start of a long journey in feeling the fire that we are.
We constantly create external structures that can guide the flame, and then identify with those structures.
Stepping out of the mind, the ego, is not a witch hunt!
Everything has its own utility: in traumatic situations not being in the present is a form of protection.
Ego itself is a “creature” that tries to protect ourselves, by creating a lot of rules and fighting to survive.
The only not-functional thing, from a human-systemic point of view, is the fact that we have psycho-physical reaction to mind trips like we have a tiger in the room. This is not healthy.

Try to think out of the box of yourself — try to think different about yourself.
Some steps of actions:

• Meditate a little bit every day. Even 5 minutes can make a huge difference! Constance is the key.
• Randomly during the day, try to breathe slowly and concentrate on the physical feeling of breathing.
• See your own beliefs. Are you really an engineer? Teacher ? Musician ?
• Try to see when you behave based on a role. Parent, Waiter, Customer, Lead.
• Break out of monotony. Do something new, something that you would say “I’ll never do that”. You can discover new things about you, and see how much roles, ideas and definitions are not fixed in time!