Identifying...

 

Rene Magritte

"Identifying or "identification" is a curious state 

in which man passes more than half of his life. 

He identifies with everything: 

with what he says, what he feels, what he believes, 

what he does not believe, what he wishes, 

what he does not wish, what attracts him, 

what repels him. Everything absorbs him, 

and he cannot separate himself from the idea, 

the feeling, or the object that absorbed him. 

This means that in the state of identification 

man is incapable of looking impartially 

on the object of his identification. 

It is difficult to find the smallest thing 

with which man is unable to "identify". 

At the same time, 

in a state of identification 

man has less control over his mechanical reaction 

than at any other time. 

Such manifestations as lying, imagination, 

the expression of negative emotions, 

and constant talking need identification. 

They cannot exist without identification. 

If man could get rid of identification, 

he could get rid of many useless and foolish manifestations."

~P.D. Ouspensky

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