July 29, 2023
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS iDENTITY:
Arsenal, Identity, and Evolution (JONATHAN FOSTER, 7/25/23, Football Paradise)
Once, while out skating, I took a crack to the back of my head in a fall, knocking myself out. When I began to come around, I experienced an accelerated evolution of consciousness itself. My vision went from nothing to blurry to sharp. I began to pick out objects that morphed into people hovering around me. As I lay on the cold ice I detected the sensation of the sun on my face and the weight of my body.But I had no idea who I was. There was thinking going on, but who was doing the thinking was a mystery to the thinker. It was as if I was a floating mind with no identity to root me into my body. I could have been anyone. Eventually (a matter of a half a minute or so that felt like an eternity) I regained a sense of myself. My identity returned and I got to my feet and skated off the same person I was before I fell. I think. I hope.However, identity, this thing we think we are, is a social construct, not some fixed immutable physical attribute. It can be disconcerting to think of the self as fluid, considering we cling so hard to the concept, but this fluidity and the ability to alter one's "identity" isn't a bad thing at all (although a more considered approach than a blow to the head is always a better idea), and it's always good to let the mind roam free.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 29, 2023 4:44 PM