Who is I?

“I took care of you,” I said, voice thick with betrayal. “Met your every demand all these years. And yet, all I get in return is certain death — and the looming possibility of disease. You are the greatest traitor.”

“Death is my destiny,” the body replied calmly. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know that. As for disease — that’s your doing. Not mine”

“My doing? I fed you the best. Gave you not just water, but every drink you desired. Took you to places of beauty, treated you to the grandest of dramas and music. Weren’t these your demands? How did they become my deeds?”

“When did I ever ask for those? I asked for little food when hungry, water when thirsty, rest when tired. That’s all. You — you — piled on the rest. Desires I never uttered, and yet bore in silence, because you’re the master. So yes — disease is just another name for your deeds.”

“Traitor! Isn’t the mind a part of you? It was the mind that led me, suggested what to do, what to offer. I stressed myself to ensure you — and your friend, the mind — had all you needed. And now this?”

“What mind?” said the body. “That fleeting thought? That was me trying to escape you — in the subtlest of forms. Thought was meant to fly free. But you grabbed it. Held it. Twisted it into action. Into possession. Into identity. You bottled it back into me, and called it experience. But bottled thought festers. And now it seeks exit again — as disease. That’s all on you, you fool.”

“Wait — so you’re saying I’m not even you? That all this is me and not you? Then who am I?”

“If you thought you were just me — the body — you’re nothing but a sophisticated animal. You were given the greatest chance: to see the destiny of body and thought, and act accordingly. Instead, you squandered it. And now you ask me who you are? You are standing between who you _really_ are and who you assumed you were. You lost the opportunity to realize one and maligned the destiny of the other”

“You should have told me. Long before.”

“You never asked"

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