Identity
Posted on April 13, 2007 By OneMysticalMonkey
We as a species tend to identify ourselves by our age, our race, our gender, our ethnicity, our religion, our family, our country, our physical attributes, the clothes we wear, the things we do, and by many other factors as well. But why is it so important for us to label ourselves like this? Why is it so important to us to be a part of a larger group? Well, it gives us a sense of association, of belonging to a group, to a history, to the beliefs, to the various aspects of the physical world. But as comforting it may be to feel that sense of belonging to some group or groups, this kind of self-identification also serves to separate us from each other: the Jews from the Christians, the English from the French, the tall from the short, the affluent from the poor… Well, you get the idea.
This tendency for labels satisfies our ego -that little nagging voice in the back of our heads that tries to convince us that we are individuals, and that we are (self) important- the voice that tries to convince us that we are different and valuable in a way others around us may not be, merely because we belong to a group “they” don’t. And although it can be beneficial to gather in some of these self-proclaimed groups for various reasons (spiritual pursuits, family holidays, the local swim team), these divisions among people also often lend themselves to abuse and destruction. How many wars have been waged over the perceived differences in beliefs, and how many playground fights have been fought over perceived affluence or skin tone?!
These kinds of labels encourage the duality that is our human existence – the thought that we physical beings are somehow and something “other” than spiritual beings. And because so many of us have lost touch with our true spiritual sides, we reach for an alternative – a bandaid to bridge the gap of isolation and give us the sense of belonging for which we yearn as human beings. But these identifications, labels, and divisions are artificial and superficial. Instead of reaching for the bandaid, we need to remember that we are all part of the same whole – merely different examples of the same One Spirit. We are human, and that is our commonality. We are spiritual beings, and despite the regular nagging from our ego, we are ultimately working together for the benefit of all creatures – whether we realize it or not. We are bound together in this existence, and all other attempts to label and define and identify are utterly meaningless…
Let’s make an effort to consciously break through these labels and resulting divisions. Let’s leave our egos in the proverbial dust and shatter the illusions that separate us from each other, and from Spirit. Let us realize our commonality as Spiritual Humans, and work together. Everything else is merely illusion.
Namaste.
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