Whence does your identity come?

[Hygro]

Personal or social, claims or deeds, what are the rules of what is a person's identity?

 

[Angst]

When answering, always take into consideration feral children.

 

[Synobun]

I don't know if I have an identity.

I guess if I absolutely had to pick one, it'd be my disability. Which, well, the source of that would be... my disability.

I'm just... alive. I try not to cause harm upon others but I don't do very much to lessen peoples' hurts either. I exist.

 

[Kyriakos]

Whence does your identity come?

Secret society trying to conclude stuff about an over-demon controlling earth.

 

[Perfection]

mostly just a collection of stories - we are who we say we are

 

[Gigaz]

The personal identity can mostly be understood from a persons profession, I think. It is very good indicator for political opinions, world view and social status.

 

[Birdjaguar]

We are a sum: our inner selves, known to us + our outer selves we show to others + what we hear we are from others. That combination is encased in its culture and traditions. Over time, subject to our genes, those all can change and as they do, so does our identity.

 

[Omega124]

I feel my personal identity stems from being a gynophillic transgender feminist. Everything else kind of stems from that.

 

[Kozmos]

What I can remember, unused memories eventually go away. So right now, hemispherically, the right side of my brain is all like America, freedom, guns, justice and the american way, the left side is all like social responsibility, collective wellbeing, computer autismry. If you'd separate them, I guess they'd both go their separate way.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

mostly just a collection of stories - we are who we say we are

At some point the focusing awareness recognizes the concept *I* and says something to itself about that. Then it spends a lifetime "discovering" evidence that it was right the first time, most of which it creates. Recognition of "hey, I chose that, and I can choose something else" provides access to an entirely different existence.

 

[Perfection]

At some point the focusing awareness recognizes the concept *I* and says something to itself about that. Then it spends a lifetime "discovering" evidence that it was right the first time, most of which it creates. Recognition of "hey, I chose that, and I can choose something else" provides access to an entirely different existence.

A lot of this stuff isn't that creative though. We steal concepts constantly. We learn who we are because we're told who we are.

 

[Kyriakos]

A lot of this stuff isn't that creative though. We steal concepts constantly. We learn who we are because we're told who we are.

You still build that (mostly unconsciously) from your own mental materials. Which is another of the key reasons why two people with x won't view their state as the same.

 

[Arwon]

Brainmeats

 

[Timsup2nothin]

A lot of this stuff isn't that creative though. We steal concepts constantly. We learn who we are because we're told who we are.

Only if you agree with it. Someone saying "you're xxxxx" doesn't make it so. Only "I'm xxxxx" makes it so, because the human mind demands to be right.

If at some early age in a fit of toddler pique your first taste of self awareness is "I'm better" your life will become a constant treadmill of proving it. Driven to surpass anyone you meet and not only surpass them but make them acknowledge it. Exaggerating the importance of your successes, tearing down the accomplishments of others, deriding any area in which you don't excel as "unimportant anyway," perfectionism in all its ugliness. And nothing will ever satisfy the demand to prove it because the treadmill never stops...you'll still be proving it the minute before you draw your last breath as you work on how to "die better."

Similarly, your first taste might have been "I'm nice" or "I'm tough" or "I'm stupid" or "I'm beautiful" or any number of other things. It was possibly a response, either agreement or rejection, to something a parent (or sibling, or someone else) said. So in that regard it may fit the "told who we are" mold. But ultimately no one is compelled to prove anyone else right, it's their own response they are compelled to prove.

The proving that is never quite done is the burden of life. Even if you look at those possibilities and see something that makes you think "I wish I'd chosen that" there is nothing that makes for a lesser burden than anything else. The only freedom comes from recognizing "I just said that." It isn't some "fate" or "assignment," or "the way that I am," it is just something I said at the time. Since it is just something you said you clearly can say something else if you choose. Something more grounded in your adult view of the world, maybe.

But the important thing is that when you choose this new thing don't immediately forget that it too is just something you said. While you can choose wisely and use it to shape your life from that point forward it can still create the same burden if you let your mind's demand to be right turn you back into the same over driven proving machine, just with a new focus.

 

[timtofly]

A lot of this stuff isn't that creative though. We steal concepts constantly. We learn who we are because we're told who we are.

Who are we if we get past all the criticism?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Who are we if we get past all the criticism?

What is it that automatically replaces "told who we are" with "criticism"?

 

[timtofly]

What is it that automatically replaces "told who we are" with "criticism"?

The part about the human mind that demands to be right.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The part about the human mind that demands to be right.

Yes. But what is your mind trying to be right about that makes it tell you that everything that can be said about you is criticism? What is it that "everyone just criticizes" provides evidence for?

 

[Birdjaguar]

Only if you agree with it. Someone saying "you're xxxxx" doesn't make it so. Only "I'm xxxxx" makes it so, because the human mind demands to be right.

The proving that is never quite done is the burden of life. Even if you look at those possibilities and see something that makes you think "I wish I'd chosen that" there is nothing that makes for a lesser burden than anything else. The only freedom comes from recognizing "I just said that." It isn't some "fate" or "assignment," or "the way that I am," it is just something I said at the time. Since it is just something you said you clearly can say something else if you choose. Something more grounded in your adult view of the world, maybe.

But the important thing is that when you choose this new thing don't immediately forget that it too is just something you said. While you can choose wisely and use it to shape your life from that point forward it can still create the same burden if you let your mind's demand to be right turn you back into the same over driven proving machine, just with a new focus.

I'm skeptical about defining the goals and purpose of the human mind. I would agree that our egos like to be right and call things certain, even when they are not. But are our egos us? Are they our fundamental identity? The whole question of individual identity would seem to be a "trick" of our egotistical side to separate us from acknowledging our deep roots in the larger scheme of nature and our need to bond with others.

Identity, however it is defined or determined, is a protective shield that enables us to act in concert with and in concert against others.

If we are nothing more than what we have just said or done and capable of rewriting our scripts as frequently as we choose, then why don't we? Why are we so obviously incapable of becoming who we want to be rather than remaining who we are?

 

[Narz]

I'm a warm-blooded sexual being trying to create as much awesomeness as I can without hurting anyone and activitly enriching others idealy.

I don't know how much of my morality is inborn, I'd say more than half. I think some people are just dicks.