"Our emotions, our sentiments, our thoughts, the whole paraphernalia of the mind, are manipulated and conditioned by the outside. Scientifically, it has become more clear now, but even without scientific investigation the mystics have been saying exactly the same thing for thousands of years, that all these things our mind is filled with are not ours; you are beyond them. We get identified with them, and that's the only problem."

Who you are not

You are not the body. If a doctor amputated both arms and legs, and if he transplanted into your body someone else's kidneys and an artificial heart, the essence of who you are would not change because you are not the body. You are not that.

You are also not your brain. Even if a doctor hooked up wires to your brain, and by applying voltages to different regions of your brain, forced you to move various limbs, or even to change certain emotional behaviors, the very essence of who you are would not have changed because you are not your brain. You are not that.

You are also not our mind. While asleep, your mind might take on the personality of a sexy model, or a dapper ladies man, or a silver-tongued international spy, or a bird in flight. But, the I that is you is merely the observer to the journeys your mind takes. The I that is the essence of you never changes. It is not the mind. You are not that.

Who you are

Who you are, the very essence of who you are, is Consciousness. The challenge for you, in this life, is to gain knowledge of Self --- to understand what, exactly, this Consciousness is that is Self.

Certain research into the functioning of neuromelanin over the past century has offered clues to guide us in our search for Knowledge of Self -- a search that Man has been on for as long as Man has been Man --- for as long as Man has possessed Consciousness.

The Self transcends the body. You are not that.

However --- and this is an important point --- melanin does have a critical role to play in the _functioning_ of our Consciousness. And, this role is consistent within All -- both Whites, and Blacks, and Browns, and all the other artificial subgroups of mankind. Melanin is an energy absorber. Skin melanin absorbs light energy from the rays of the sun, from without. And, neuromelanin both absorbs, and transfers/radiates, energy within the body. But, what is this energy that is both without, and within? What is this light that is the life of men?

The question is straight forward but the answer is ambiguous..:)