This three week sidebar on Identity may seem a bit abstract at first, but it is the sum of all of life. Our identity or our self or our soul goes through some amazing transformations if we are consciously invested in its
discovery. It is not unlike a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
We've examined how people view their identity based upon externals. Things like our physical appearance, our jobs, our income, our zip code, and our hobbies index us and reflect some aspects of our self. However, it is foolish to create an entire identity based upon such things. Why? Because the loss of a job, or a house, or a relationship will also mean the loss of ourself. This
happens all the time and its tragic. The externally defined self is "without a self." We call such people "fake." It's really just immaturity and lack of awareness.
The internally defined self touches a higher reality. Our world is full of countless messages about how we need to be true to our self, or find our true self. Of course most people aren't too sure what that means, but it
sounds good. Religion, psychology, quantum physics, among other philosophies are all trying to get at this higher self. While much of the content in this space overlaps, some of it doesn't, which makes this subject quite confusing and polarizing. Each perspective is convinced it is the only one.
The key take-away for the internally defined self is that we actually transcend (go beyond) our physical life. It's this idea that we
were thought of, loved, designed, and created and even co-existed within the mind of a benevolent creator before a single day of our life had ever passed. (Psalm 139:16). Thus a self/soul that lived before it ever existed is also a self/soul that will never die. To derive our identity from this belief produces a very different outlook on life, others and the world. The internally defined self is thus "a self within
God."
But here's the rub. We've all met people who are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. They all have a recipe for how to access God and some see every other recipe as invalid. This transcendent perspective is addictive and unfortunately many use it to escape the world. It creates us vs. them perspectives. This is precisely what leaves such a bad taste in so many peoples
mouths.
There is still another step of transformation. We don't need to settle for either the limitations of an externally defined identity nor a detached internally defined one. We can have an integrated self. In fact I believe that has been the plan all along. The Integrated self is thus "God within the self, within the world."
The beauty of the Christoform pattern is that the word
becomes flesh (John 1:14). Another, less religious way of saying this is that eternal things dwell within temporal things. Amazing things are carried in simple things. A scientific or cosmological way of saying this might be that we are each made up of the endless energy of the universe.
You see the design is for BOTH.
- We are not our true self if we lack spiritual awareness.
- We are not our true self if we devalue our humanity and
escape into religious practice.
We are only our true self when the widest possible prospective that we can possess humbly takes up residence in the minutia of our daily lives. Big and little together. Wide and narrow. Perfect and flawed. Eternal and finite. That mess on your desk possesses undefinable beauty. Can you see it?
The true self never sees THINGS as in the way, but as the way. All things are
benevolent guides. They are portals through which we intuitively see God reaching out to touch us. Each moment in our lives is so densely packed that only a true self can extract a small bit of it. But we all do. We call these "MOMENTS." (I'll get into this in next week's post)
Even the smallest bit of this understanding will change us. It's not a contest to see who has the most. It is only the starting point for any of us to find who
we are. That is the juncture of faith, and we all possess it. So let's start there.
Have a great week.
k
