Identification -A Misplaced Sense of Self

Identification -A Misplaced Sense of Self

“You are the observer, not what you observe.” -The Teacher

A fellow student expressed this foundational thought from a slightly different angle -If I can observe it, it is not ‘I’.

This is a very simple and practical way to approach the idea of identification. The capacity to quietly and dispassionately observe the cacophony of thoughts and emotions arising and subsiding in ourselves, without getting drawn into any of them, is freedom from identification, a very different level of being than our usual one.

Identification is our ‘default’ state: ‘I’ am worried, ‘I’ am hungry, ‘I’ am cooking, ‘I am flattered, ‘I am impatient, 'I' want, 'I don't want, and on and on. In this state, there is no observer. Divided attention is, therefore, the antidote. When we divide our attention, the silent observer -who we really are- emerges. Our sense of self moves from our many ‘I’s and into that which observes the many ‘I’s.

Identification is simply the absence of the observer.

If one encounters heavy traffic on the way to an appointment, identification is often automatic. One ‘becomes’ impatient or stressed. Our inner reaction to the impression of traffic becomes who we are. In that moment, we are the emotion.

But can we not observe an emotion? If so, then the emotion cannot be ‘I’.

Suddenly, we are in a different state of consciousness. The emotion becomes part of the external impression, like the traffic. A sense of Self emerges which simply watches the drama, as if from a distance. The discomfort of the lower self does not necessarily go away, but we are not identified. We are present to the moment and all it contains. It is quite literally a new level of existence, life in a higher world.

“Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am,Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary,Looks down, is erect, or bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest,Looking with side-curved head curious what will come next,Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it.” -Walt Whitman

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Image: Mara’s Assault and the Buddha’s Enlightenment, Gandhara (Pakistan); Kushan dynasty. Late second and early third century, A.D.