Identity

I wanted to explore the idea of what identity is. To what extent should we identify with things and define ourselves. Is it beneficial to have a strong identity? The ego constantly looks for external ways to identify and attach on to things whether it be experience, possessions, future plans, etc. This is an area I think adolescents struggle with a lot because the desire to develop an identity is often at its strongest in this time in life. A big part of adolescence is finding one’s place in society. I think it is important for adolescents to develop a sense of identity in order to properly develop real world skills. The chase for identity during adolescence teaches you how to piece together your past experiences to give you insight about your future. It also helps adolescents understand where their place is in a social context. As monumental as this time period of self discovery is, I feel that it’s easy to end up over identifying with external things which can lead to various negative effects. Often people think of all their struggles, hardships, accomplishments, etc that they’ve endured and strongly identify with these experiences. I feel like this was particularly hard for Esperanza in The House on Mango Street because she got a lot of her worth from her living situation and based on what other people have said to her.

Personally, I began to feel a sense of identity at a pretty young age mostly because I had a strong passion for music. I grew up in a musical family with an older brother and father being very musical, so I began playing instruments and developing a love for music early. I went through the same struggles as other people when finding their place in society, but I always closely identified with the musical side of me. Overall having this strong sense of identity helped me find my place socially and find what really makes me passionate, but at the same time as I’ve gotten older, I try to identify less with anything other than my deepest self as these external identities can sometimes be limiting. 

Often when people strongly identify with past experiences it can be harmful whether it was negative or positive. I feel that it is very important to be in touch with these experiences, as much can be learned from them and they can help you in the future, but it can be dangerous to over identify with the past. The past will never change and you will never be able to go back, so why hold on to it so closely? The same can be said when overidentifying with the future; experiences and events that haven’t happened yet. Worrying about the future too much can be limiting and cause anxiety. Being in touch with the present moment is essential because it is all we really have. Everything else is just external identifications.

Mooji, a Jamaican spiritual teacher, speaks about the concept of identity in depth. In the video below, he describes how we should move beyond identity. When speaking about identifying with feelings, he says that your being is there before the feeling and your being is there after the feeling, so why identify with the feeling? He instead suggests not resisting feelings or experiences, so that they can pass through you without having to identify with it. I feel like in western society we could learn from that because so much of our worth is based on external identities. Western societies put a lot of value on things like material possession or what occupation you have. I think part of the result of this is why so many people suffer from anxiety and depression.

-Ryan Seales