Where in You Are YOU?

We humans love to ask big questions. “Who am I?” is a classic—an existential riddle that has launched a thousand self-help books, personality tests, and deep dinner table conversations.

But have you ever considered that maybe we’ve been focused on the wrong question all along? What if, instead of “Who am I?” the more revealing question is, “What am I?”

If that sounds like an odd shift, stick with me. Understanding what we truly are—beyond the labels, roles, and stories we attach to ourselves—is the key to unlocking a deeper sense of inner peace and mental wellbeing. So let’s dive into this mystery together.

You Are… Mostly Empty Space (But Also a Little Bit of Everything)

Let’s start with the basics. At first glance, you are a body—a complex, living organism. But did you know that your body is about 60% water? And that your cells are constantly renewing themselves? Every seven to nine years, you have an almost entirely new set of cells, yet somehow, you’re still you.

Now, zoom in even further. Each of your cells contains about 75 trillion atoms, and here’s the mind-bending part: those atoms are 99.9% empty space. Yep, most of what you think of as “you” is actually an invisible energy field.

And if that isn’t wild enough, the atoms that make up your body today could have once been part of Jesus, Buddha, a prehistoric dinosaur, or even your neighbor’s cat. Atoms don’t stay put; they swirl, exchange, and recombine across time and space. Yet through all this, you—the awareness that witnesses it all—remain unchanged.

But Where Are YOU in All of This?

If your body is constantly shifting, and your thoughts and emotions are always changing, what remains? What part of you has been the same since childhood, watching your reflection evolve in the mirror?

That unchanging presence is your awareness—your consciousness. It is the silent observer within, the one who sees, feels, and experiences without itself being a passing phenomenon. No matter how much your body regenerates or your mind transforms, this awareness stays steady, anchoring you to something beyond the physical.

The Mystery of Consciousness

Science has uncovered many secrets of the universe, but it still struggles to explain consciousness. As Dr. Robert Lanza points out, nothing in physics can explain how a bunch of molecules in the brain create subjective experience. Where does the color red exist before we see it? How does a physical brain give rise to the feeling of love? And why does simply observing something at the quantum level seem to alter its behavior?

These questions suggest that consciousness isn’t just something the brain produces—it may be fundamental to reality itself. Some scientists argue that without consciousness, nothing we perceive as “real” can exist in any meaningful way.

A powerful metaphor for consciousness is light. Light reveals reality—it illuminates everything we see and experience. In the same way, consciousness makes everything known. Without it, there would be no thoughts, no emotions, no perceptions—no world as we know it.

Biblical texts suggest that God is light: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” If God is light, and consciousness is the light that reveals all things, then consciousness is the very essence of God.

Each of us, as conscious beings, emanates from this infinite Ground of Being. Like rays of the sun extending from their source, we are not separate from God but expressions of the boundless, eternal Reality that pervades all things.

Paul speaks of this mystery, writing that “Christ is all, and in all.” Awakening to this truth—not just as a mental concept but as an inner experience—deepens our understanding of ourselves, not as isolated individuals, but as one with God and one another.

The Key to an Ascending Life

This is where real transformation happens—not by adding more to who we think we are, but by awakening to what we have always been.

In Life Ascending: Unlocking Mental Wellbeing through Timeless Wisdom and New Science, I explore these ideas in depth, drawing on science, philosophy, and timeless wisdom, especially the wisdom of Jesus.

If you’ve ever felt there’s something more to you than your thoughts and physical form, this book will guide you toward that realization.

So, what are you? More than you ever imagined—but also exactly what you’ve always been. And that, my friend, is the beginning of real freedom.