DEFINITION
An identity refers to the characteristics or the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines ‘identity’ as follows (emphases and parentheses are mine);
1) the distinguishing character or personality of an individual: individuality,
2) the relation established by a psychological orientation of the self in regard to something with a resulting feeling of close emotional association,
3) a largely unconscious process whereby an individual models thoughts, feelings, and actions after those attributed to an object that has been incorporated as a mental image
4) the condition of being the same with something described or asserted,
5) sameness in all that constitutes the objective reality of a thing (or someone): oneness.
‘Identity’ comes from the Latin words ‘idem’ and ‘identitas’ meaning ‘the same’ and ‘sameness’ respectively. As such, an identity implies equating one thing to another. In this post, we will focus entirely on identification from the perspective of humans.
THIS IS WHO I AM
When people talk about their identity, they generally refer to their age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, personality, political views, profession, financial status, health, physical attributes, social media presence and the list goes on. This indicates that people identify with two major aspects of their lives: the body and mind.
For example, I am a tall, Sub-Saharan African, male (body), who is also an intelligent and spiritual Cameroonian-American author (mind).
THE PROCESS OF IDENTIFICATION
Definitions #2 and #3 above resonate profoundly with me because they succinctly describe the process identification. Identification is psychological and (largely) unconscious and happens with the help of conditioning.
According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, conditioning is a form of learning involving the formation, strengthening, or weakening of an association between a stimulus and a response. It is the process of training or accustoming a person (or animal) to behave in a certain way or to accept certain circumstances. How does this happen?
From birth, and most likely throughout your entire lives, you have been conditioned to think, talk and act in a certain way. Your physical senses register all the stimuli that flood you at every moment of your lives and, with the help of your psychological processes, you react to these stimuli in various ways, based on your conditioning. Conditioning is largely unconscious, meaning you’re most likely unaware its happening.
You have probably heard or even made statements such as the following:
- This is how I was taught (in school, the military, at home etc.).
- This is what we (Buddhists, Christians, Democrats, Republicans, atheists etc.) stand for.
- I’m skinny/fat/have or lack a social media following. Therefore, I’m beautiful/ugly.
- My ex was a cheat. Therefore, all women/men cannot be trusted.
An attachment is an emotional bond established (psychologically) by someone (or an animal) to something (ideology, physical attribute, thing, etc.). Attachments mold identification into a sense of self. Thus, identification equates to deriving a sense of self from whatever you identify with (Definition #4 above) and this happens through attachments. In other words, according to you, whatever you are attached to becomes you.
A child gets a new toy and creates an emotional bond with that toy. Try taking that toy away from the child and see the reaction.
How would you feel in the following instances, for example?
You buy a new car and someone scratches or hits it (no bodily harm befalls you).
You fall in love and your partner cheats or breaks up with you.
Someone insults your religious/political beliefs, calls your beautiful, is racist towards you, steals from you etc.
You lose your phone.
Notice that in these examples, you experienced no physical harm. Yet, emotions are involved at various levels. This is because you feel as if that thing, belief, person, situation etc. is you, thanks to the emotional bond established between you and that thing, belief, person, situation etc., via the psychological process.
THE ILLUSION
Deriving a sense of self by psychologically creating emotional bonds (attachments) is merely enforcing an illusion. It is a ‘sense of self’ because it is an illusionary self. This illusionary self is what is called the ‘ego’. In other words, identification builds your ego. Why?
The answer lies in the word from which ‘identity’ is derived: ‘idem’. ‘To identify with’ means ‘to make same’ (Definition #4). Another word for ‘to making same’ is ‘to copy’. If identification has to do with creating ‘sameness’ or ‘to copy’, what you need to ask yourself if this: What am I trying to make the same (or copy) through my process of identification? What am I trying to mimic with my identity?
CONCLUSION
A copy will always remain a copy regardless of the quality.
Your body is just the result of what happens when wonderful physiological processes break down and utilize what you feed it.
Your mind is just the recycling of accumulated data throughout your life.
In the words of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, “What you gather can be yours, but it can never be you.” Truer words have never been spoken.
If your body and mind are just things that you gather, then who is doing the gathering? If you are neither the body nor the mind, then who are you? Who, or what, is it that you’re trying to ‘copy’ or ‘make same’ via your identification process?
The realization that something exists within you that is more than your body and mind. I believe this constitutes the basis of spirituality.
There’s so much material in this blog post that will be discussed in greater detail in future posts. In the meantime, follow me on social media and subscribe to this blog to stay up-to-date on future posts.
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