who are you?

really

Graydon Ursel
April 17, 2025

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Switching it up today and sharing my favourite explanation of consciousness, paired with some trippy AI visuals.

Let’s dive in.

Imagine you are… infinity.

Pretend you’re a giant bubble of pure love and light, amidst a backdrop of empty black nothingness.

You are consciousness itself. Unbound and undifferentiated.

There is no “you,” and no “other” to compare yourself to.

There is no contrast. No separation. No polarity. No good or bad. No pleasure or pain. No tension to resolve, no problems to solve.

The deep hum of the cosmos reverberates through you. It’s peace in its deepest sense.

How satisfying.

But what comes next?

What does a being that is whole, infinite, and complete do to pass the time?

You shatter yourself into a trillion shards.

Each shard becomes a perspective. A person. An insect. An alien. A life.

You fragment and forget, so you can experience yourself in ways not possible through a singular, all-knowing entity.

You become the king and the beggar.
The dancer and the brokenhearted.
The powerful CEO and the addict on the bathroom floor.
You’re the monk sitting in silence and the warrior charging into battle.
You’re the criminal, the saint, the lover, and the dying.

You experience all of it because it’s the only way to fully know yourself.

What an incredible experience, to be infinite consciousness expressing itself through trillions of angles and forms.

It would be the ultimate cosmic jazz solo, as you riff up the existence of bioluminescent ocean microbes or telepathic seven-tentacled aliens from planet XR-17.

Every lifeform offers a bespoke cockpit for your consciousness to pilot, leading to an endless buffet of experiences.

Perhaps the greatest experience of all would be remembering who you really are.

The moment you look into the eyes of another and realize you both come from the same source.

Have you ever had this feeling of “oneness”?

I’ve had a few glimpses in my life.

All I can remember is thinking: “Of course this is who I am. It’s so obvious. How could I possibly forget?”

It’s a deep, visceral knowing that you are everything.

It’s an incredible feeling, but it does not last. At least not for me.

I’ve retained my intellectual understanding (which is why I’m writing this email), but the knowing has faded away.

I suppose that’s the point. Enlightenment ‘aint easy. Such feelings are elusive by design. This is what makes discovering them fun.

I’ll end with this: whenever you’re feeling alone or isolated, remember there is inherent value to this experience.

Separateness isn’t a punishment, it’s the prerequisite to connection.

So don’t shame the solitude or try to numb it. Connection will find you again, and it will feel richer because of the time you spent in your own company.

Hope you enjoyed this email. Let me know if you like the addition of the images. Might start adding these to more emails.

See you next week.

Graydon

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