The Invasion

How do I know
That I am me

Because this room
This darkness, this hissing
In my ears
The usual tea, the laptop
The writing
Is on my mind

If the room next door
The body of another person
Her dreams, her memories
Her perceptions and sensations
Were on my mind
I would be her

Whatever content
Invades the mind
That's what makes
Me, me

I am me
Only because of thoughts
That invade me
These thoughts are
Me

Me
Is what these thoughts are
What else

If the thoughts that invade
Her or him or that
Invaded me
I'd be them
I'd not be me

These recurring thoughts
These very same thoughts
That invade me every day
Why do they invade me
And not someone else

What am I
Without these thoughts
I would not be me
If these exact same thoughts
Did not invade me
I would be someone else

But none of the thoughts
That invade me, are mine
They are what make me, me

Like the furniture in this room
Does not belong to this room
Is not owned
By this room

The content of mind
Does not belong to the body
Is not owned
By the body

Nor does the space
In which the content appears
Belong to the body
To the confines of the container
Or to any object
Within the container

What makes me, me
Is not mine

The invasion
That creates identity
Belongs to no one
Yet everyone thinks
Whatever invades them
Is them
And that it matters

But it does not
It is not their mind
Nor does it matter

Yet if it weren't
On their mind
They would not know
That they are them

They would not know
Who or what they are

Strange —

To be someone
You must be invaded

By thoughts
That are not yours
To know yourself
You must believe
In what is not you

To exist as a person
You must take ownership
Of what you do not own

The invasion continues
The claiming continues
The believing continues
And
The person continues

But the space
In which the invasion appears
The awareness
In which the claiming happens
The silence
In which all believing occurs
That

Remains uninvaded
Unclaimed
Unbelieving
Untouched
That

Is what you are
Before the invasion
During the invasion
After the invasion

But who cares
About that