If I were someone else

A song on the radio contained the lyric "if I were someone else," so I started thinking about that line of speculation. We often wonder what it would be like to be someone else, generally with the idea that that other life would be easier/better/more interesting. We also sometimes use the expression, "If I were you, I would..." and then tell another person what we think they should do.

Of course, whenever we indulge in that train of thought, we eventually have to wrap it up and put it away by realizing that if I were someone else, I would really BE someone else. I wouldn't just look like someone else, like in the movie Freaky Friday or The Hot Chick. I wouldn't get to try out driving around in their body; I would have lifelong experience being in that body. I would have all the same history, opinions, memories, pain tolerance, food allergies, political affiliations, relationships. I would be that person. So "if I were you, I would..." do exactly what you are doing.

But imagine that I'm standing here talking to you and I say "if I were you..." and some cosmic trickster says "Ok!" and switches us. What would happen then? I would be you, and you would be me. And

Nothing. Would. Have. Changed.

There would be two people standing there in that room, one of them with all the history and personality that marks them as me, and the other with all the history and personality that marks them as you. There would be no way to prove that we had each started the day in the other person's clothes. (What had started the day in the other person's clothes??) For all we know, each day we wake up as a different person. But since we're not just impersonating them--we ARE them--we never notice the difference.

So logically, it is exactly as true to say "If I were someone else" as it is to say "I AM someone else." This is either a trippy but useless mind game, or The Truth, depending upon how you want to view it. "I" am Spirit/God/Consciousness manifesting as the name on my birth certificate. "You" are the same Spirit/God/Consciousness manifesting as the name on your birth certificate.

I am you as you are me. We are all one. I am a single human named "Colony," so I should be able to remember that. The other day I was watching a guy playing beautiful guitar, and I thought, "I wish I could do that." And then I thought, "I AM doing that."