What about identity I asked myself? What questions come up while thinking about Identity? Somewhere I read that it has to do with the “self”. What is the self is what then immediately comes to my mind? The question is, however, whether this is important to know? I am writing some chapters for a book that will be published next year. One chapter is about violence. Has identity something to do with violence? Let me try to think, to imagine, just for fun, and for the art of thinking.
Of course I can start with what is violence in general but many great people already did this. It does not mean that I have to start from scratch, but could it be helpful to write about what I think myself, while thinking? Maybe it is the only thing that really matters when it comes to the self, to talk about the self. Doesn’t the Dalai Lama calls this “first person research”? Once I was not sure to write a book and while doubting about the relevance of writing yet another book, instead of reading an already existing one of someone else, I received an e-mail with a phrases of Jiddy Krishnamurti: “Why should you read another book when yours is ready?” Of course many people will interpret this sentence completely different, depending on cultural background, education, habits, attitude, belief patterns and many factors that “can” be of importance.
What about my identity? Who am I? I am a married woman, mother of two children, stepmother of one, born in the Netherland, lived in Indonesia, Spain and I am currently living in French. I am a child as well, since this does not end with the death of parents or does it? I am a sister of two other children from the same parents and I am part of a bigger family. Does this give you any idea of who I am? Let me do some more (re)search. I lived in different places in the Netherlands, in villages, in towns, the family members I “belonged” to had different religions and as far as I know completely different political ideas. I was always wondered by the debates, dialogues and discussions in the heat of their controversial ideas. I was not sure what I thought, believed in, desired for. It was just me in my present staid. I studied different approaches, for my ego and for yours, it is maybe good to know that I did a doctoral program at the University in Granada, Spain in Political Sciences, Peace and Conflicts. Based on that, it might happen that I have some advantage now and that some people are more likely to identify themselves with me, since I “belong” to a certain group of people. I studied! Let us make me a bit more “important”. I received good marks and this at a well-known University. I can imagine that you now think, that what I am writing now is profound instead of nonsense. That it will be more likely based on some concepts, theories, (re) search from well-known professors all over the world. It could be that I “lost” or “overlooked” some people as well. I was not interested only in what we “normally” would call sciences.
Let me express myself more clearly, questioning what many scientists call scientific. Since, what I would like to express, based on some of my remarkable observations, is nothing more than reducing reality.
What if I reduced everything what is not the self, what is out of reach of the research of the self? Who am I? Everything I wrote about what could be related to myself is not in absolute sense myself. It is a certain context, a certain description of what I did, who I was around and who are around me, but what does it says about me. Is the self in me, my experiences on earth, unique and different from all other human beings? Is it the self that laughs about the self, since the self is taken the self too serious? I suppose so!
If you do not know what I am talking about, me neither. If I am not able to describe myself in terms of pure self, we seriously can ask ourselves, why we create such a turbulence about words, ideas and thoughts that others have of us. Why do we think that we have reason to fight against each other, if it seems to be impossible, in the most simple exercise, to give any description of the self in any human structure, without the connection and relationship to others?
If it is impossible to describe the self in the individual form it will be (even more) impossible to use it to a group of more individuals. What is the self (the identity) of the Dutch, the French, the self of the Football fans, Political Groups or Churches. I did some research and I went into Wikipedia and for some reason I ended up in the description of a Sect. Very interesting what is written and the explanation of what this is, the self of the sect.
As far as I understood it has to do with brainwashing, isolation, thinking of in- and exclusion, charismatic leaders, hierarchy and I found some other interesting description. If I observe the words and sentences used and I read them ones more, what I think can be very helpful, I ask myself whether this is not a description of mostly all human creation. The communistic, capitalistic, socialistic and other political systems, the structure and boundaries we recognize in every organization and country. Could it be that we ourselves created the Self, just for legitimating the harm of others? What if the Self does not exist? Who do we harm?
Third person research, no ? (His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Universe in a single atom: the convergence of science and spirituality)
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