The Face You Had Before You Were Born

Most spirituality, in one way or another, has taught that we have all indeed begun to forget, if not fully forgotten, who we are. Universal amnesia seems to be the problem. Religion’s job is purely and simply one thing: to tell us, and keep reminding us, of who we objectively are. Thus, Catholics keep eating the Body of Christ until they know that they arewhat they eat—a human body that is still the eternal Christ.

Is it possible that we do know our True Self at some level? Could we all know from the beginning? Does some part of us know from the beginning? Does some part of us know—with a kind of certitude—who we really are? Is the truth hidden within us? Could human life’s central task be a matter of consciously discovering and becoming who we already are and what we somehow unconsciously know? I believe so. Life is not a matter of creating a special name for ourselves, but of uncovering the name we have always had.

Richard Rohr