Which 'You' Is The Real You?
2/1/2025
This clip from the Get Back documentary tv series of 2021 has always stood out to me, mainly because it is rare to hear such deep, profound wisdom coming from mainstream popular entertainment. Having watched the full film again this January, it got me wondering what the general take was on this scene, knowing fine well how spiritual statements like this go over most peoples' heads or are totally misinterpreted. In looking it up, I was interested in the different ways Beatles fans interpreted what George says here.
My take on it... he is essentially pointing out what I am pointing out in the song "Before You Were You" from the 'End Of The Strangers' album. Paul is saying that watching the home movie footage he has of them, it looks funny because John is so obviously not 'himself'. I know what Paul means and I can see it in the footage myself, but what George reminds them is that even the version of John (ie. Beatle John, Paul's friend) we are all familiar with is not actually the real John. John was generally the leader, the rebellious one, the one who wouldn't bow down to authority of any kind and yet in the India footage you can see he is displaying a reverence to Maharishi that is unfamiliar. It's actually very common in spirituality. Watch any clips of Eckhart Tolle, Mooji, Rupert Spira or any other spiritual gurus and you will see lots of people fawning over them, adjusting themselves, speaking more softly, lots of spiritual gesturing, bowing and praying. These actions can, of course, happen naturally in the presence of an enlightened or awakened one but there's also many egos who adopt this kind of posturing to hide behind. Not necessarily that they mean it, it's just an automatic egoic reaction to Truth. A more blatant ego may walk out and not even be able to stay in the presence of an enlightened one but many egos are more cunning and wouldn't want to show their real feelings in such a way so will instead try to go along with what they imagine and assume you are supposed to do in such a setting. Exactly the same way egos do in almost all everyday situations as Marlon Brando points out in this clip from the 60s:


John Lennon faced this perhaps more than any of the other Beatles because once he got together with Yoko he probably changed more than the others from his 'Beatle John' persona. Anybody who has went through a legitimate spiritual awakening will recognise this as often we all have family members and friends who remind and sometimes resent us not continuing to play the role they are used to. The only reason that version of 'you' seems the real one is because usually the conditioning or programming was more intensely instilled in you in your formative years. So that's likely the version people will think of as 'you' and any change from this 'you' will look like you've lost yourself. Many people will go through life never budging from this 'you' so it will appear as a stable entity but the ego is always a fiction. When you awaken, it's not that you find a version of 'you' that is the real one and stick to it. Instead you discover that any version of you is a role and you relax into that and have fun with it. Since you have a body and can't not have a body in this physical world you have to wear some kind of clothing, you have to have some kind of personality to interact with the world. The only difference is because an unawakened person doesn't know there is anything else beyond the personality they treat it like a 100% real entity, hence they will defend their ego to the death. The awakened one, knowing there is something beyond personality, is more relaxed and can play around with their image. So they may start dressing differently, they may start talking or acting differently because they are no longer scared and bound by their ego. To sum it up, they don't take themselves seriously, but don't mistake that for being silly. It's not the same as somebody who is jovial and light-hearted. They may appear outwardly deadly serious with a certain intensity and some may perceive them to have little humour in them if they can't see past the ego layer.
We all know that acting in a film or tv show is not real and we all know a sports game is not real but when we take part in these activities we give it our all. We take part with an intensity and seriousness as if it is a life or death matter. You honour the part you are playing the way an actor or sports person would.
The version of John Lennon, before meeting Yoko, as well-loved as he was, by his own admission would be a mixture of his true essence with an egoic role. He had a lot of insecurities and nervous energy and, as many people do, he hid it behind this character. It just happens that his character happened to be charming, appealing and relatable to the public. The truth is there is no real John because 'John' is the name given to the fictional egoic character 'John Lennon'. There isn't a version of that entity which is the 'real one'. You can never be a real 'person', the person has to go, and whatever is left expressing through that particular body is the real thing but it can never be known as a concept, like we do with everything else in this world.
It's far easier to identify what is not you, when you are being fake, than it is to identify your real self. The real self is what's left once you've discarded what is fake but because by it's very nature, it is the real you, then it can't be pointed to, it can't be seen as an object like we see everything else. It can only be expressed and you will never know what that looks like. You will only know when you are being fully you and when you are out of alignment with yourself by the 'feel' or vibe it carries.
There is another clip of Marlon Brando, from the 60s, talking to two attractive women interviewing him. By today's standards certainly, and maybe even then, it may look a little 'creepy' or in the area of 'sex pest' but he's actually highlighting something important about society. He is giving a glimpse of what it's like to be pure and unfiltered. Like a child, he notices things about the appearance of these women that is pleasing to him and simply speaks it aloud. Sure, it may make the interviewers a bit uncomfortable because people are not used to dealing with that level of straight-forwardness but his aim appears to be to cut through the industry bullshit and have a one-on-one conversation with another human being. He talked to lots of people this way - both men and women. What is wrong with telling a beautiful woman she is beautiful? Even if she is a stranger. He may even want to sleep with her there and then but of course, holds back from expressing this, because even he is bound to some degree by the limitations of the society he finds himself in.
Imagine what a world would be like if we didn't have to hold these things back. Now imagine a world where we repress all of these things. Well, that's the world we are currently living in and as many people point out, it feels like hell a lot of the time. We may believe we are comfortable with sex because it's everywhere. I'm not judging anybody as I say this, simply making observations... The rise of things like Only Fans in our culture is a symptom of a sexually repressed society. The repressiveness drives the sexual desires into these areas since we don't seem to be mature enough as a species to deal with sex in the right way. I don't know what the answer is, I just notice things and share them here. As Bruce Lee once said "It is very difficult to express oneself honestly". It's easy to be arrogant and cocky, and it's easy to be down and cynical about yourself, but staying in the middle, balanced, is very tricky in this world. It's actually very easy to be yourself. What makes it difficult is the world and your conditioned relationship with it. We control each other because most people care what others think and so nobody wants to step out of line. Once you do, it's not easy to maintain a relationship with the rest of the world.
Marlon Brando can get away with it, maybe only just, because of who he is but try sitting down next to a random woman on a bus or at a bus stop and making such comments. Yes, some women would accept the compliments gracefully but many would feel weirded out by it and probably think of you as some sex pest. We've really complicated the man-woman relationship to an incredible degree in this society, but that's for another post!

I remember reading that one of U.G. Krishnamurti's followers once said to him "UG, you should be as big as J. Krishnamurti, why aren't you?" and U.G. replied along the lines "To be as big as J. Krishnamurti you must compromise in some way". He had no interest in reaching those levels of fame and notoriety - although I'm sure he was no less keen for the Truth to get out there - because he understood there is a price to pay for it. In any field in this world, you cannot reach the top without compromising yourself and being fake to some degree. Everybody has to draw that line for themselves - how far they wish to compromise in order to get what they want in this world. The world doesn't support authenticity and realness. It supports illusion. The Truth in it's raw form is too unpalatable for most. As Bob Marley sings in "Jammin'"... "The Truth I cannot hide to keep you satisfied". Those individuals on the world stage who dared to share hard truths never got an easy ride. John Lennon was shot and killed. Bob Marley had an attempt on his life and then suspectly died a few years later of cancer. George Harrison was stabbed in his home and died of cancer soon after.
Sometimes people who come across me wonder why I don't have more followers and views for my songs. I know very well why, and yes it's a pity, but I accept it because within the world and society we've allowed to be built around us, it can't be any other way. It is a society which rewards mediocrity and mundaneness and trash basically. Now and again true quality breaks through but by and large, it doesn't, and when it does, usually has to compromise itself greatly. The most basic, crude and easy human desires are fed because that's what keeps the society in control. Keep them asleep, shove junk food at them, mind-numbing entertainment, the lowest common denominator stuff. Just awake enough to keep the wheels of the system turning but no more. Within the confines of such a society, the 'you' can reinvent itself many times, which you often see with celebrities... a former junkie cleans up and becomes a health and fitness freak. This kind of change is acceptable to the society because it's a superficial change. The core mechanism and motives are the same. You can be addicted to fitness or religion as much as addicted to sex, drugs and alcohol. At the end of the day you haven't addressed the addictive personality. Try to discard all of that, putting all roles aside and you'll have a hard time finding a place for yourself in the society. That's why so many people that even get a glimpse of this turn back and say "It's hopeless, you may as well just enjoy your life, have a family, make lots of money". If you can't beat them, join them. It may seem reasonable but such people lose something much more precious than anything this world can give them. The thing with Truth is you follow through despite all of that because you just do. It's self-evident. If it's real then there must be a way because 'being real' implies being in alignment with the same force that governs this entire universe. How could that ever be wrong even if the whole world tells you it is? To avoid this is no different to lemmings jumping off a cliff. You know it leads to death but you do it anyway cos everybody else is doing it. When you align with Truth you live forever, there is no death.