Open-Secrets

Tag: identity

  • The Art of the Steal

    Most Minds are Common Thieves

    Well at least mine is and has been. Part of the natural state of my mind and mental activity seems to be nothing more than simple, endless theft – always stealing someone else’s ideas and utterances. I offer no apology for my stealing activity, I understand it as part of the mind’s mechanical functioning.

    Damn, it’s a little more subtle and complicated than it appears. There’s this pesky identity that likes to assert ownership of “stolen goods.” Well, be that as it may, our minds like to gather up content, repackage it and sell it to the unsuspecting masses as original content.

    mechanical mind bullshittersNo wonder we become bored and jaded with life at times. Our world is filled with stolen goods activity supplied by almost 8 billion mechanical bull-shitters. Like many of you, I love to read fiction and go to the movies. Do we ever really see or read anything new? Endlessly rearranging content to sell ourselves an “original bill of goods” requires a lot of distraction and impaired awareness.

    And don’t fool yourself, I’m not about to stop. Not only is stealing masochistically and sadistically pleasing in its veiled form – I can’t quit. The identity conundrum again. The mind is going to continue to do what it does automatically and unconsciously. The thief is going to continue stealing – it is simply part of what it does.

    Oh well, I guess I will just have to rely on honor amongst thieves unless there is some other dimension of mind beyond thievery.

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  • Ego Identity

    Ego_identityIdentity – Ego Identitiy – True Identity

    What’s the deal with identity anyway. I remember my parents challenging me with – who do you think you are? At the time I was just a kid – I didn’t have a clue who I was and they didn’t seem to be helping me found out much either.

    What I felt in response to that question was judged and in trouble.

    In simplest terms ego identity is defined as – the sense of oneself as a distinct continuous entity.

    For Erik Erikson, identity is what maintains in the individual inner solidarity with the ideals and aspirations of social groups. The ego has a general balancing function: It puts things in perspective and prepares them in view of possible action. The strength of the ego, as Erikson conceived it, explains the difference between the feeling of being whole and the feeling of being fragmented. In the best of cases, it enables the individual to understand that the feeling of being at one with oneself comes through growth and development.

    A psychological inquiry into identity will lead to discussions of self-representations, self-images, and ideals. These are some of the components of ego structure that help to form a sense of identity in the mind patterned on the past.

    A spiritual teacher or guide might ask – what was there before ego identity?

    Does that survive ego death?

     

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  • Identity

    Identity almaas

    Ultimately, the desire for meaning and significance is a search for identity. — A.H. Almaas

Open-Secrets