Has IT Become Your ID?

Has IT Become Your ID?

To be extremely identified is to be extremely asleep. — The Teacher

The modern fascination with the use of IT electronic devices makes it much easier to illustrate what the Fourth Way means by the word “identification.” It is easy to spot and observe in myself and in others, this peculiar identification of our age which consumes my energy. I feel naked without my mobile phone, laptop, smart watch and the like, and the use of these can become so dominant that some individuals may eventually need counseling to help wean themselves from their identification and compulsive behavior.

The pervasive use of electronics is an easy example, but we can also become identified with anything: our emotions, ideas, sensations, attitudes, judgments, our jobs, money, sex, food, family, friends, or material things. And as the Teacher points out, it is our dearest treasures that are usually our deepest identifications.

It is always our treasure that the lightning strikes. — Harriet Beecher Stowe

Disappearing into identification means I miss experiencing moments of my life. I cannot be present when I am in a state of identification. However, it can be both a blessing and a curse. Because identification is reliable and infinitely pervasive, if I learn to use it as a reminder to wake up, I have found something reliable to struggle against. When identification appears, I can counteract its hold on me by bringing presence to the moment. My effort to bring presence must outweigh the temptation of identification. It is a question of valuation.

When bodily concerns predominate, everything in man is asleep: the intellect, the soul and the senses. — Saint Neilos the Ascetic, The Philokalia

A kind of detachment or divided attention is necessary to guard against identification. One way to assess whether I am identified is to observe what happens when the object of my identification is taken away or someone interrupts me. Often negativity results because I am lost in identification and irritated to be interrupted and have my sleep disturbed.

Just as it is possible to think of water both while thirsty and while not thirsty, so it is possible to think of gold with greed and without greed. The same applies to other things. — Evagrios the Solitary, The Philokalia

Another useful way to work with identification is to think about it in advance when I am not identified. For example, I sometimes become frightened by strange noises when I am in my empty house at night. So, I decided to investigate the sounds during the daytime. I went from room to room, closed my eyes, listened carefully, and investigated all of the noises I heard. Evening came, and I recognized these same sounds in the darkness, but now my experience and knowledge with them dissolved my fear, my identification. This is similar to thinking of water both while your thirsty and while not thirsty.

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Between Wealth and Love, William Adolphe Bouguereau