All those identities you have, that’s not who or what you are
– paraphrased from a friend of mine (PG)
What he actually said was, and that’s not who you are in response to someone mentioning an identity they had for themselves.
In what way is our identities not who or what we are?
It’s not who we are, as a human being, because we are so much more than that. Any identity is very small compared to the richness and fullness of who we are. Even all our identities combined are small compared with the richness and fullness of who we are.
As what we are, we are capacity for the world as it appears to us. Any identity and what it refers to happens within and as what we are. They can, at most point to something. We are not the identity or any or all of the associations we have around that identity.
As respectively who and what we are, we are different from, more than, and less than, any identity.
We are different from any identity. Any identity comes from an overlay of thought. It can be wrong in a conventional sense. It’s certainly incomplete. And no matter how accurate it may seem, what it is meant to point to is different by nature from any thought.
The fullness and richness of who and what we are is far beyond any identity and all identities. What we are aware of or can name is a drop in the ocean of who and what we are.
We are also less than any identity since any identity comes from the addition layer of thoughts. It comes from an overlay of thoughts. It’s extra.
The more we explore this for ourselves and take in what we find, the more we tend to hold any identity we have – applied to ourselves or others or anything – more lightly. They are already questions, and we get to recognize them as questions and not anything final or complete.
…..
–––– DRAFT ––––
It’s not who we are, as a human being, because we are so much more than that. Any identity is very small compared to the richness and fullness of who we are. Even all our identities combined are small compared with the richness and fullness of who we are.
As what we are, we are capacity for the world as it appears to us. Any identity and what it refers to happens within and as what we are. They can, at most point to something. We are not the identity or any or all of the associations we have around that identity.
As respectively who and what we are, we are different from, more than, and less than, any identity. We are different from any identity. Any identity comes from an overlay of thought, and what it is meant to point to is different by nature. The fullness and richness of who and what we are is far beyond any identity and all identities. We are also less than any identity since any identity comes from the addition layer of thoughts, it comes from an overlay of thoughts.