You Are Not Book.indb - Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph. D.

CHApTER 3
Why?
How does one approach and discuss a topic such as
YOU ARE NOT, when within it there could be so
many classic objections. For example, are we talking
about copping out from the complexities, responsibilities,
and problems of life? Is it not dissociation in the sense of
avoiding, numbing out or even denying that we are in the
world? After all, we are reading this book. Is this just another
philosophical, cerebral discussion centered on our existence?
Is this not a reinforcement of a False Core, particularly “I do
not exist,” or so what, what would or does this understanding
really mean to all of us?
These questions will be both explored and examined so
that there is no confusion as to the “purpose” of this understanding,
which when held and when all else is discarded,
might pierce layer upon layer of ideas, concepts, and, in a
word, miss-understandings, which have arisen and have
been re-enforced over the years because the very purpose of
a society (which is a by-product of the nervous system) is
to re-enforce YOU ARE.
It is for this reason and this reason alone, that the use of
“this understanding” is explored to discover who “you” are.
For, as “my” teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj said, “All you can
really teach is understanding, the rest comes on its own.”
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