Identity is a work in progress. It isn’t engraved in stone, even though some would like to be a simple matter of knowing who you are. But your thoughts arent you. Your body isn’t you. Your life isn’t yours. Your emotions also aren’t you. The path of spiritual development is the opposite of identity creation, in fact it is the willingness to dent the I. Since the concept of I is flawed, life will often dent it. The reaction to life, will give you a false self concept or Identity.
What happens to you makes you think you are what happened to you. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those are your memories, not also you.
In fact the more you observe the reactions that you have to life, the more you become aware of the pain that is held within you, the less likely you are to stay attached to the idea of yourself.
Then where do morals, values and ethics come from? if it isn’t about what you think about yourself, how can you judge right from wrong. If there isn’t a label on the can, how do you know what is in the can?
People who like to have things nicely sorted, the left sock with the right sock, the matching earrings with the matching outfit, now those people love to have a solid rock like certainty. They will go to great lengths to believe in something, to not have to think. To just simply know what to do. Identity is like a user manual for them. If you give them all the cues, they will do what they are supposed to.
And it works for a while. Then it doesn’t. Because life is for exploring, as much as it is for performing. It is as much for learning and growth as it is for knowing and believing. A time comes, when one can’t be afraid anymore. One grows up and wants to break out of the mental prison of should be’s, and have-tos, and how people must love me, and I am a good person, aren’t I?
That time is when the devil, the infamous snake in the orderly paradise, rears its head and says, ‘but really, who am I?’ and other such insane philosophical questions, such as if nobody heard the branch fall in the forest, then did it really happen?’
Thus, the heart says, ‘hear me’, ‘see me’, ‘know me’, ‘reflect me’, ‘connect with me’, and ‘listen to my song’. It is a nagging knock from Spirit, that wants you to see You, the whole of you, the eternal you so that you know who you are is spiritual being, eternal, complete and whole, without any Dents or broken parts. And you emerge as a complete entity. This doesn’t mean you are invincible and don’t need anyone. It means that you can flow with life. That you are no longer fighting life or what God gave you. And instead of trying to change it, you gently surrender to the heart’s way.
What used to be emptiness, no longer needs to be filled with anything. Instead emptiness becomes inner space, a place of profound belonging. Identity is no longer required. What you do is something you do, you choose to. Not something that you are. What you look like is a fact of life, not a reason to like or dislike yourself. Who you spend time with is a choice, not a condition of belonging. What you eat is to nourish your body, rather than to fill an emptiness within. What you think is what fills you with hope and joy, rather than what others expect you to think. What you choose as a form of livelihood is the path of least resistance, your most natural unfolding, rather than an attempt to earn recognition or kudos. What you do for others is a spontaneous responding, rather than a well thought tactic to keep connections active.
You live from the heart. You shine from the heart. You are authentically you and in that way, there is no separation, there is no I, no you, just a shared space of being. I do I, and you do you. It doesn’t matter what people think, it is interesting to know what they think. It doesn’t matter if they like you, what matters is that you like you. It doesn’t matter what you have, as long as you can share it happily with another. It doesn’t matter what you wear, as long as it is clean and respectable. It doesn’t matter what you laugh about, as long as you find something to amuse you. It doesn’t matter if you cry, as long as you can really feel. It doesn’t matter if someone doesn’t treat you right, what matters is that you stopped them from mistreating you.
Behind The Veil 