The Bible says that man is created in the image of God. If God is good, His creation must, therefore, be good. But the Bible also says that because of the sin of Adam and Eve, man has become evil. For salvation from man's evil nature, we have to look outside of ourselvesthat is, we must turn to God or Jesus.
There is no denying that there is a lot of evil, as well as good, in this world of today. So, are we good or evil?
More importantly, who are we? We are living in a busy and hectic world that we seldom have the opportunity to pause and reflect on this simple question "Who are we?"
In terms of our individual sense of who we are, most of us would identify ourselves with the roles we play in everyday life, such as the role as a child, a student, a spouse, a parent, or a professional. But other than these specific roles we play in our everyday life, who are we when we are all alone by ourselves?
Who are you? Ask yourself that simple question when you are all alone by yourself. This may look a simple question to you, but the answer may not be that simple.
In life, you easily get caught up in your work, relationships, emotions, and thoughts that you may have no time to reflect on that simple question: "Who are you?" In life, many people think that if they are not doing something, such as watching TV, they are wasting their time. So they keep themselves occupied with activities during every wakeful moment of their lives. On the other hand, there are also many people who spend much of their time deliberately thinking about something. For these individuals, it is difficult, if not impossible, to answer that simple question: "Who are you?"
Unless you have a completely calm and clear mind, which enables you to see the whole picture of who you really are, you would tend to associate your identity with the various roles you play in your everyday life. In real life, you are playing so many different roles and being so occupied with the activities accompanying these roles that you seldom have an opportunity to see your real self as a wholethat is, who you really are.
It is very much like the story of the blind men touching the elephant and being asked to describe what the elephant might look like to them. Each of them touching different parts of the same elephant offered different perspectives of the same elephant.
Likewise, living in the frenzied world may make you look at yourself only as different individuals playing different roles, instead of seeing yourself as one "whole" human beingthat is, who you are, or your true identify. Without the complete clarity of mind and complete vision of your whole being, you would be like one of the blind menonly "seeing" part of the elephant, instead of its entirety.
So, what is the complete clarity of mind? Or how can you achieve that complete vision of self?
That illumination is deliberate thinking of nothing, and deliberate reacting to nothing, thereby instrumental in creating the awareness or mindfulness which sheds light on who you are or your true identify as a human being. And this mindfulness or self-illumination is attained through meditation, which enables you to see yourself with complete clarity of mind.