For a number of years now — through discourse on philosophy, the practice of meditation, and the contemplation of wide-ranging future technologies — I’ve wondered about what it means to be human.

Who am I? Am I body, mind, soul, spirit? And if I am all of that, then who is saying this? What is this ‘life’ in which I exist? What is real? What is Truth, and what isn’t? What is this language that I — presuming I know who I am — use to even think, and question existence? I know it gives me freedom of expression, but does it also hold me captive to something else? What causes suffering? What is our original design? And over and over again, who am I really?

I have come to realize — that the single cause of our greatest (and perhaps, only) suffering, comes from the lack of understanding... of ‘being’. Not the absence of understanding — for we all have some, but the lack of — for we have much left to understand.

In our language (English), ‘Being’ is defined as “the nature or essence of a person”. I believe that it is the lack of understanding of our very true nature, and our essence — that causes all the suffering we experience.

I will not be presumptuous to claim having understood. Instead, I seek to continually pursue understanding. I have not experienced that seemingly lofty state that is described by both philosophers and religious teachers as — ‘the end of suffering’; but I have experienced how suffering (and this includes both anguish and anxiety) ends when understanding begins. 

I believe that someday, I will no longer be able to write as I am writing now — in a manner that my children will be able to understand. It will not be when my life ends, but rather, it will be when I — my very essence — will transcend a material existence, the constraints of a physical body that started out dying, and the influence of a brain that seemingly has a life of its own (a machine with a constant chatter, a constant stream of thoughts, and requiring disciplined taming). 

For that reason, I am writing a book — to leave behind my notes... my observations — of what it means to be human... to be (human being). My answers for all the questions I have — about this life, this existence in which we are... who we are, where we really come from, and where we are headed. And that’s why the title of this book will be — Being Observed.

I am also writing for mastery. Perhaps someday... someday during my material existence, I will truly experience ‘the end of suffering’. Or perhaps as long as I pursue understanding, I don’t have to.

“Get wisdom, get understanding... ... The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” — Proverb