Rob Butler

By the time I had reached 40 years of age a profound realisation had begun to dawn on me: I was not the person I thought I was. In fact I was not a person at all. I began to realise that the personal identity I had assumed, which I tried so hard to perfect and defended at all costs, was nothing more than a temporary collection of memories, preferences and habits. I began to see that who I really am is not an individual at all, but something which is beyond the scope of words to describe.

Instead of seeing myself as a person who needed to achieve or attain something, a deeper sense of Self began to emerge. This Self revealed to “me” that it was the same Self which resides within every “person” on the planet.

Having walked the typical path of spiritual and personal development for many years I began to see that it was all a kind of game. Having done years of emotional processing and working through my programs, the realisation began to form within my consciousness that all of this could be jettisoned through a simple process of “dropping the I”. If “I” didn’t identify with the collection of memories and tendencies which I habitually referred to as “I”, “I” would no longer have any emotional processing or programs to be concerned with.

Following this realisation I began to see that, although we often feel unable to “drop the I” and therefore have to endure the hard slog of spiritual practice, it was becoming increasingly possible to step outside of this identification and, temporarily at least, realise the true Self in waking consciousness. I saw this dual nature as being like a two-lane highway and it formed the opening of my book, The Light Within.

If somebody had been walking a spiritual path, felt lost or disillusioned, and was seeking to realise his or her true Self, The Light Within would be my contribution to that person’s search.