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7.1
Mind and self
 
  Over the past four chapters, we have discussed a great many key influences on our self- what we do and why we do what we do.  
  In our discussions, we have revealed a web of complicated relationships and concepts working against our ability to find answers to our deeper selves and what we do. From the beliefs that religions tell us we are if we are female. That the images of beauty that we are taught from a young age if we are male. To the beliefs in the value of money and security in owning our own home, in working hard.  
  The web of influences weighing down upon our sense of self seems endless and inescapable. For the very thinnest of fibres of our society to what our teachers taught us are all interlinked and influenced by each belief.  
  At the same time, we have managed to identify common threads running through the various belief systems that fundamentally influence our sense of self- from religions, to government structures and contemporary culture. Like running our fingers along the edge of an old rug, we see the sameness is the unity, not the difference. And looking harder at the endless fibres of beliefs we see them for what they are- distractions, distractions from who we are and what we are a part of.  
  It is only then that we see the mass of complicated definitions, of semantic hair splitting of words and their origins, the television shows, radio waves and senseless chatter of news, disasters and advice- distractions from very thing that makes life so special- life as it is, life now, living life deeply.  
7.1.1 So far, yet so close  
  Now in this chapter we are ready to face the final major influence on our sense of ourselves - the ego, the mind, what we call the I and our very sense of self. That we return to our self, to look directly at ourselves make sense. For we know- what we think- we are, what we dream-we see.  
 
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