Identities

We are all very aware of the roles people play. It begins from a very young age when we see our mom and dad (or whom ever is our main care taker) observing the rolls they play in our life and we build a perception of them, subconsciously. When we begin to attend school we gravitate towards a certain type of person because we identify with them more than others. We also fall into various identities within our lives and have a perception of our self that is different from the perception people have of us.

"Life is suffering" - Buddha

Because this quote is from Buddha it may cause resistance due to the religious or mystic connotation that is associated with Buddha but take a moment to take in the words, separate from who spoke them. 

When I first saw this quote I was a little taken a back and was thinking, "wow, what a morbid thing to say, life is beautiful, life can be a challenge but grace and beauty can be brought to us through these challenges." It wasn't until I dove deeper into the meaning of my identity and role that I began to understand this quote and found it to ring true.

What I found in these words is that life is suffering because human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. These imperfections cause us to suffer as we find attachment to physical objects and perceptions of who we are, our identities. Our identities are our roles, our perceptions of our self and of others, our ego, our small self. However, in our essence we are nobody. When we don't find attachment with our roles and understand it is a mask we wear, we meet our essence.

When we identify with our ego or small self we create separation. This is true in all aspects of life from religion, race, education, professions, etc. These identities cause us to say "their" religion, "their" children, "their" theories and so on. This idea of "theirs" causes separation and leads to suffering because we are seeing things in duality.

 A perfect balance between fulfilling our roles, taking responsibility in the world and understanding that these masks are not who we are but simply a role that we play needs to be found in order to remain grounded.  Everyone  creates their own reality and perceives things differently, there is never one true you. We are all nobody, an essence, an energy who has been given a beautiful gift to experience this world in bliss, if we choose to. Letting go of our identities allows us to find freedom and move toward oneness. This letting go allows us to experience life but not be affected our experiences -- all experience can be perceived in the same way, blissful.

All of this is much easier said than done! I am still in the beginning stages of trying to reach my essence. I often catch myself becoming attached to things that I believe define me or find myself creating separation. When this happens I have to take a step back and observe what my small self is thinking and remind myself that the attachments are only a part of my perceived reality, not who I really am because I am no one, which sometimes can be hard to swallow!

When we find our essence we are in bliss, a state of consciousness that is not touched by circumstance and we are removed from suffering. -Shakti Mhi

Take the time to practice stillness, observe your thoughts, allowing for non-attachment.

Just some food for thought:)

~Liz