Identity
Have you ever spent time wondering who you are? What are the elements you use to contemplate your identity? Occupation? Family? Country? Interests? Self-image? It’s one question that sparks a hundred others. While meditating on the idea of ‘who I am’ the following come into my mind. When I get caught up in being all that I think I am, I find this useful:
Imagine you are sitting on a small desert island surrounded by water. Contemplate the normal surroundings of your life that you have just stepped out of.
A boat approaches. You place everything you own in the boat. Your, phone, your home, your bike, your car, your relationships…everything. It sails away. Contemplate all that you are without your possessions.
Another boat approaches. You put everything from the 19th, 20th and 21st century into the boat. The Internet, computers, TV, radio, movies, literature, electricity, machinery and industry. The boat sails away. Contemplate all that you are without these things.
Yet another boat arrives. Into this boat you put human history. All of it. Every book ever written, every word ever spoken, every social structure followed. It sails away. Contemplate all that you are without human society, without language.
A new boat arrives. Place your body in the boat. Put in your ability to smell, taste, touch, see and feel. Put the island you are sitting on in the boat. Put the entire Earth in the boat. The boat sails away. Contemplate all that you are without your body and its senses. What is your identity now that it has no human frame work? Who are you now there is no ground to hold you?
A final boat arrives. It has everything in it you’ve given away. Pick and choose what you want to take back. Rebuild yourself with what you value most. Leave what you don’t want in the boat and let it sail away.
Evan Shapiro www.amazon.com/author/evanshapiro
This blog is edited and used with permission of the author. Originally posted @ https://noexpertbut.wordpress.com