We are addicted to our identities, whatever they may be, and not just our identities, but the identity of all that surrounds us. How do you identify? Does this change when you are with certain people? I know mine certainly does. I remember my days working at the Gender Identity Center and meeting folks who identify as gender fluid. Perhaps this fits me. Perhaps it goes further to include not just identity, but the environment itself. Consider how you feel when you hike in nature alone. Do you feel a connection to the animals and plants? How about if you attend a large group event, say a ball game or concert? Why do we even hike in the woods or go to a big event? Could it be for the identity we borrow there? Don’t you ever tire of your identity? Isn’t it nice to try on someone else’s? Perhaps this is why hero’s are so adored! Or someone famous. Or the celebrated artist we wish we could be like.
Perhaps my initial phrase is exactly the opposite of true and we are actually afraid of our identity. We naturally fear our essence, our natural selves so we hide it by being what we are not. We project this unwanted identity on others. “Oh, that person was so mean” or “what a jerk that person was to me.” Choose an identity and vilify it! These identities fall into the list of individual rights as well. The right to not be discriminated against on the grounds the “other” is not like me. Everyone deserves respect, unless they violate my identity!!
The point here is as we grow Spiritually the phrase, “we are one” takes on new meaning. A literal meaning and it becomes difficult to identify with any one at all. I identify with everyone these days. An exercise I learned from the Conversations with God series by Neale Donald Walsch comes to mind. Go for a walk and randomly point at whatever you encounter and say, “I am that”. Do this regularly and observe how you relate to the world. If I am that trash on the sidewalk, perhaps it is not trash at all or perhaps it just reflects how I feel about myself. The bird has an entirely different view of the world than say a mouse or wildflower. With Oneness we realize how connected life is and how separated we can feel at times. This separation is false. It is Fear, false-evidence-appearing-real.
So in your everyday dealings with the world, ask yourself, who am I, really? If I have a job as a doctor or custodian is this who I really am? Are you the teacher or the student? The child or the parent? Couldn’t you be both? I am a Spiritual being having a human experience, but isn’t even that limiting? God is all there is and I am this, I am. No judgment required! Its all good, for its all God. No identity necessary!
Sequoia Elisabeth
Oneness Ministry 