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John 8:18 · World English Bible

John 8:18 Meaning I Am One Who Testifies About Myself

I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.

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What does John 8:18 mean?

There is in you the one who acts and speaks, and there is the silent one who watches it all without judgment. To bear witness of yourself is to know that watcher, the awareness in which every thought and feeling and moment appears.

From the Ego v. Being reading below.

John 8:18 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

EGO & BEING

Ego v. Being

There is in you the one who acts and speaks, and there is the silent one who watches it all without judgment. To bear witness of yourself is to know that watcher, the awareness in which every thought and feeling and moment appears. This is where awakening begins.

And this witnessing presence does not stand alone. It is the same awareness that gave rise to you, looking back at itself through your eyes. You do not need the world to approve you before you can know who you are. The still awareness within already knows, and its quiet knowing is a truth no outer voice can grant or take away.

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Ego v. Being lens

Live John 8:18 today

  1. Sometime today, watch one feeling move through you without arguing with it, the way you would watch weather out a window. You are the one watching, not the weather.
  2. When a conversation starts fishing for approval, yours or theirs, let the moment pass without reaching for it. You can be warm with someone without needing their verdict on you.
  3. After a post gets no likes, or feedback lands badly, sit still for a minute before you respond. Something in you was fine before the numbers came in and is still fine now.

Whose approval are you still quietly waiting for before you can be at ease with yourself?

The same truth in other traditions

Hinduism · the Upanishads

There are two birds on one branch, one eating the fruit and one simply watching. Knowing yourself as the watcher changes everything.

Zen

Before anyone praised you or blamed you, you already were. Your original face does not depend on anyone's opinion.

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius

How much freedom there is in no longer needing to guess what others think of you. What you are is not in their hands.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

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