When Julia and I were first getting together, we laughed a lot and marveled at how frequently we finished each other’s sentences, seeming to know what the other was thinking before they even said it. I’d often say to her, “You are me. I am you.”
Today, I would say the same thing to you. And we may not have even met. Let’s get into this.
You are me. Yeah, you.
Yes. Because, as Marianne Williamson once said, “Well, really, there’s only one of us here, after all”! Why would I say such a thing?
I’ll begin this way: If I asked you, “who are you?” you would likely reply with your name. “I’m Joe” or “I’m Tina.” When I asked myself the same question while making my film The Treasure (the 2021 origin of the above clip) I flashed on an idea once floated by Wild Chicago co-conspirator, Harvey Moshman. He said he’d always wanted to cut together a bunch of quick moments of multiple greetings from whomever was there to greet me. I’d say, “Tell us where we are!” and then Harvey would edit together 10 or more snippets from 10 different people naming 10 different Wild Chicago locations. You’re at The Get Me High Lounge/Margie’s Candies!/Graceland Cemetery/The J.I.M.I. Hendrix Information Management Institute/Babes With Blades! And so on.
We never did that, but I did suddenly think, why not cut together a bunch of “Hi, I’m Ben Hollis”es.
It’s fun, funny, bouncy, informative yet, ultimately, ineffective in getting to the answer of the question, “Who am I?”
Ben Hollis is a name. It was given to me. And everything else that’s happened to me since 4:15 P.M., March 15, 1954, has been laid on me, like lacquer on a piece of furniture. It’s all conditioning. Even the “hereditary” stuff. All applied from somewhere else. We’re talking parental influence, medical history, education, advertising, music, TV, movies, religion, Playboy, MAD, babysitters and more.
Ever ask yourself, “Okay, so who would I say I was before I was born, before I was given a name?” Oooooh! Verrrrrrry Scarrrrrrry! (Not really.)
See, I have come to find the truth is this: I am more spirit or energy or vibration than anything else. I am Be-ing. (Receiving the name “Ben” is pretty impressive, considering my true nature, eh?!) I’m not a thing. I’m a verb, an action, an undulation, ever vibrating. This body will dissolve. This spirit, this Vibration will not. And it’s not specific to me. The Vibration is Everything, All. It just keeps on Being, is infinite, limitless, without time or space. And we’re all in it, of it. That’s why you are me, and vice versa.
My ego hates this line of thinking. It wants to rush in to rescue my name, my Ben-Hollis-is-my-true–identity thinking. It’s threatened. But I don’t need rescuing. I don’t even know if there’s even any “I” there to rescue. In fact, I know there’s not! Nope. Because when I tune in to what I now know is my true nature, as just another ripple in the Cosmos of Be-ing, or “Is-ness,” all is fine, as is. Yes, I need to live in this earthly world, true. But given this more Eastern view of reality, I find a lot of freedom from the usual heaviness of thinking, worrying, striving, liking and disliking, and so much more.
So what is this thing we do every day here? The thing most of us refer to as “life”? Beats me. But I think it’s something like this…
Here’s what I see today: This “earth show” is more like a fun, extended improv game. And, yeah, there’s plenty of distasteful, unpleasant stuff going on here, but none of it will persist, will last forever. And none of it is going to keep me from celebrating all the pleasure and fun I’ve been afforded in this life on earth. I see, and experience, a Presence that shines in everything. It’s there, if I make an effort to find it. Try it and see for yourself. I dare you. I dare you to consider that there may be a seriously deep truth in the usually breezy “It’s all good” line. It’s all good. Imagine that.
