In my next post I will post an essay I wrote a while ago on identity.

I would post it with this post but because of this introductory paragraph it exceeds the post limit, and I would like to retain the bulk of it's essence in one post if possible.

I originally posted it in HB, but I think it may be more greatly appreciated here.

I was torn as to whether or not I should post it here or under Humanities, so feel free to move it as you see fit.

Also, for those with ADD there is a tl;dr version down at the bottom...

I would now like to touch down on an important topic, and that is identity. How and who we perceive ourselves as, as well as those around us and how we are mistaken in doing so...

Most people go about their life compulsively analyzing, interpreting, and labeling things as soon as they enter their field of consciousness... They do it to people, they do it to situations they encounter (Immediately having some form of reactive relationship towards it), and they do it to nature. And when they do this they can no longer perceive the sacredness in nature, and in themselves, because they approach it only through thinking...

You see, most people do not truly relate to you, but rather they relate to the thoughts in their head that they have about you.... And that's wrong, because by doing so they are missing out on a whole lot of things... A whole lot of everything, actually... The perception of those around you is completely obscured by their thoughts. You are yourself, not the thoughts you or anyone else has about you, and it's a shame that no one really sees that... Not even you, you know, because everyone in your life (Yourself included) is biased in regards to who you actually are, and their perception of you is clouded by their thoughts that they have about you...

I mean, everyone creates their own reality through their senses and thoughts... We choose to see what want to see and disregard the rest... You are not the person your parents think you are, or anyone else you associate with... They came to that conclusion about you based on the thoughts that they have in their mind and consciousness about you, and not from who you really are...You are nothing like the person you see yourself as... Who you see yourself as is nothing more than an illusion that was created by the thoughts in your mind.... You really should stop thinking and just look at yourself for once and see who you really are...

The more we think about things and the way we see them the more we should come to realize that the thoughts are all wrong. With that in mind we should all wish to seek out the truth in this life and our perception of it. Instead of thinking in the normal manner one should attempt a thought catharsis, or a paradigm shift in the way we perceive things, if you will... We all know something doesn't feel right, we can all feel it deep down within us, so why should we continue on the same path? It's time we change our direction, because I feel that mine, along with that of the majority of the people parading on this planet is pathetic...

In my humble estimation I feel that it's time we leave our thoughts at the door and just really see who we are, along with everything and everyone around for who and what they really are... I mean, I've come to the conclusion that inner peace coupled with inner stillness and inner awareness = outer peace.... When you lose touch with your inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. And when you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.... Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness.... This is the "I am" that is deeper than thought, name, and form.... Stillness is your essential nature....

So what is stillness? It is the inner space or awareness in which the words on this screen are being perceived and become thoughts. Without that awareness, there would be no perception, no thoughts, and no world. We are that awareness, disguised as a people.... You find peace not by re-arranging the circumstances of your life, but rather by realizing who you are at the deepest level... Now what has never changed in your life? From day one until now... as you have grown and matured... Thoughts change. Beliefs change. Our body changes. Circumstances change. People die. People are born... Everything changes... However, the one thing that has never changed is your awareness... the "canvas" on which all your thoughts are painted.....

So your actual identity, or so it should seem to be, is not the thoughts which you have of yourself, but rather the awareness that perceives the thoughts... Your inner subjectivity... It has been there since the moment of your birth, and it will be there in your body until the day you die... It is unchanging and indestructible.... You can believe or think what you like, however, the awareness, or the consciousness that "I am" is always there... Unchanging, still, and silent... This is the same consciousness that is inherent in nature... It is the fundamental building block of life - "The unified field" in quantum physics.... We don't have a life; we are life.... In the moment as you wake up from sleep, the two or three seconds before you start to think... That is your true identity... The mistake that we have made in this world is to think that our thoughts are who we actually are... We are not the thoughts themselves, but we are the awareness behind the thoughts....

Imagine that your life is like a river and you are swimming in it... The future is the water coming towards you. The past is the water that has swept away. You are trying to swim upstream into the future... All your thoughts, hopes, fears, and feelings about yourself and about other people and everything in your mind is in this river... And you are swimming along quite happily... Sometimes the river waters are tranquil and its sunny. Sometimes the weather is bad and the waters are high and its a struggle to stay above the water. Sometimes you go under, however, most of the time you tread water... Now imagine if you stepped out of the river and sat down on the river bank.... You could watch the river go by and see it for what it really is... Now who sees this? Pure awareness. Consciousness..... Everything else, our fears, hopes, dreams, and thoughts are not who we are... People are blinded by all those things... People fail to see when they're scared because they're simply too afraid to let themselves see... People never see when their dreams are coming true, and people never really see themselves, other people, and things in general for what they truly are when they're blinded by the thoughts that they have about the said individual or thing...

To step out of the river see it for what it is, free from all the distractions and pressures of mundane life that twist your thoughts into thinking life is the way you currently see it would be a wonderful thing... If we could do that the doors of perception would be cleansed... In this day and age most people are so lost and so caught up in trying to swim against the current into the future striving for a shinier this, or a bigger that and in doing so they lose the essence of who they really are. I see so many people with so much camouflage on because they don't know who they are. They take on the identity of all these superficial things and neon idols and make them a part of their identity, thinking they need to be like them. Never feeling good enough about themselves, everyone longs to be a martyr. Everyone wants to fight for the cause, and yet so few truly know what their cause even is. People spend their entire lives wagering their soul upon the head of a needle, and for what?

Try as much as you want, you can not swim upstream, and you're just wasting your energy. All this anticipation, all this desperation, it's all for nothing, and most never realize that throughout their life. There is no grand prize to be had, and there's nothing at stake except for the only thing we as humans have, and that is this moment. People need to stop putting all their chips into tomorrow, worrying about the reward to be had at the end, because when you get there all you're gonna find is a revelation, and that is that you wasted all those moments worrying about this one final moment, only to discover it's fake, just like everything else you were forced to muddle with and give yourself to as you sacrificed your integrity and virtue. We should be doing our best to make the most of this moment, because it is all we will ever have. No matter what, we will always live in tomorrow's eve, and yet people waste their lives doing what they must to escape this moment, to escape the now, because reality is just too much for them to bear, searching for the one thing, whatever it may be, that will set them free. And when they give all they have for this one thing, that is when they've truly given up on life...

One thing to set yourself free? that's nearly a laugh, but it's really a cry. First they assume it's a thing that will set them free, second they assume they have no freedom. Well, if freedom is a state of being then they've already tightened the noose with their attitude. Nobody really needs anything. We all are, if we only knew it, everything that is or ever will be. Our inner self is the same exact essence of being that is the world. The state of our outside world is a reflection of our inner self, and yet no one sees this, feeling as though they are separate from the world when in fact the world rages on within all of us the same way we go forth upon the world. If only we knew who in fact we are, we would cease to behave as what we think we are; and if we stopped behaving as what we think we are, we would know who we are...

People believe that being enlightened puts you in some mystical state far removed from normal consciousness. In reality, what you free yourself from is attachment to the habitualized categories in your life. You learn to control what matters to you, instead of letting what "matters" control you. You learn that you give your own life meaning, and to create that meaning takes work. Most humans accept whatever meaning is conveniently at hand, most prominent seems to be the purpose assigned by society. That of the worker/soldier. Once you free yourself psychically of the purposes pushed on you by the world around you, and accept no purpose but to simply live as the only purpose, you will be free.

Anyways, I'm not trying to preach to you here. Take what you wish from this. The purpose of this little diatribe was to simply provoke thought, even if it was just a little bit... I've been sitting on this riverbank for quite some time now, and I've watched so many people come and go, trying the best they can to make it in the river. I've seen so many people I care about lose themselves in it, trying to become something they mistakingly feel they need to be... I've tried to reach down into the river and pull them out so they can see it for what it really is, and see how absurd their previous agenda was, but alas, many are simply too caught up in their little race to nowhere and have too much feedback in their mind. They can hear, but they don't listen. Actually living their life as themselves instead of a masquerade is just too much for them. Can you really blame them though?


They're scared, and the life they have is all they've ever known, so of course they cling to it. Without their camouflage they wouldn't know how to be, because they still haven't met themselves, and that's a shame. I think about all these people worried about absolutely meaningless, trivial things, being completely unaware that the greatest tragedy of their life could go unnoticed. That being if they were to die not having ever known who they are. To say yes to an instant is to say yes to eternity...

I may seem like an enigma to society for my heresy, but mankind is a martyr for even less. When that portcullis comes crashing down, at least I know I'll be able to look myself in the eye, for I know who I am, and I am no stranger. The only question that remains is: Who are you?


tl;dr:

I am to you whatever you decide I appear to be,

I am to myself everything that ever was or ever will be,

And to the universe in all it's infinity, I am myself, for we are one...

Great post--but I'm not sure myself if it is appropriate for here.

I am going to make some of the paragraphs shorter to aid easy reading, but I will not change any text.

It's a shame that this is not something that can be empirically evidenced. It truly does have to be experienced by the individual to have credibility, and for many people, if there is not an experiment, there is not a subject being studied.

Great post--but I'm not sure myself if it is appropriate for here.

I am going to make some of the paragraphs shorter to aid easy reading, but I will not change any text.

Thanks for cleaning it up a bit. You think it might be possible that you could actually move this over to humanities instead? I think it would be more fitting over there. Thanks in advance...

Done.

I think folding clothes is a great example of surrealism. It is a reaction to a self-created and expected environment. You can never really find out the reason you're folding them either.

Of course, the whole process is a synergy between many states, wants, and expressions of desire. The whole method and purpose of folding clothes can be sacred or diabolical.

When you wear clothes you change your perception of yourself by changing the perception others have of you. This is true of all actions, stage fright and all sorts of anxieties and schizophrenic predispositions.

When a speaker places more and more importance in what they're saying and begins to reorganize their worldview and the definition of their identity through this process they become caught up with what they're saying. That's why automatic writing, drawing and trance are similarly related phenomena dealing with an 'inebriated' expression of creativity. Experiencing psychic phenomena such as reality tunnels is creatively brought into existence and manifested within your own life. Genius is perspective in action.

When you 'second view' your actions through the eyes of an observer your are merging 2 self-created reality tunnels and reacting to them. It's like worrying for no reason, a 'waste' of energy.

You should be glad for all the people you have seen floating in the river, without them who would you be?

I think this is relevant to your perspective: http://www.totse.com/community/showthread.php?t=2164561&highlight=psychedelic+circus though I admit there is a burning notion of Otherworldly connotation to the whole thing.

As much as sinking off into the sink is good, maybe you can help people find the value within their lives?

I think everyone is in touch with this (for logic would dictate so) on different levels. When you speak to them in the proper perspective (a mix of hypnosis, rationality and undaunted non-imposing perspective) and with proper purpose you can see how their egos are manifesting themselves into denial through the presumed superficiality of the levels of being.

It all points somewhere, I just wish I knew how to point it out.

Most people go about their life compulsively analyzing, interpreting, and labeling things as soon as they enter their field of consciousness..Most people go about their life compulsively analyzing, interpreting, and labeling things as soon as they enter their field of consciousness..

Analyzing and labeling are two different things. It is as though most people THINK WITH WORDS. The words determine the reality even if reality is entirely different from the words. Consequently they have been indoctrinated to think wrong so their analyses are almost total nonsense.

My favorite example is the Europe as continent example. No water between Europe and Asia but most people will insist that Europe is a continent. They THINK reality is what they were told it is.

This is a FREE COUNTRY composed of CONSUMER SLAVES. And now the economy is coming apart because most people have no WEALTH.

Nationalism is psychological rubbish just like religion.

DT