“it’s about becoming nobody”
We are trying to forge a new identity
for which we need each other.
James Baldwin[i]
Increasing self-awareness (creating consciousness) is a shift toward sustainability and a healthy identity. As a conscious being we have transcended the illusion of Paradigm-B—the false self, the collective unconscious, the shadow, impermanence, suffering, etc. We are ONE with the Creator and all Creation.
“If our level of fear in P-B is too great, we may have repressed our true nature beyond the level of our awareness. In that case, we will not have the choice of a new story and a new identity. We are then lost in the old narrative which is the dominant condition of humanity today.”[ii]
We have an individual identity—who I think I am; and a collective identity—who I am in a group or community. For example, America today (2019) is split between collective liberal and collective conservative identities. Rachel Maddow on MSNBC during the impeachment hearings identified with the liberals saying that President Trump was “caught doing something illegal.”[iii] Whereas Sean Hannity at FOX defended the President saying it was “a lousy day for the corrupt, do-nothing-for-three-years, radical, extreme, socialist Democrats and their top allies known as the media mob.”[iv]
British actress Emma Thompson always seems self-possessed and so sure of her identity. But is she? In her own words: “There are lots of these roles that are in fact imposed on you by society for years and years and years, then you suddenly go—am I any of those things? And if I’m not, who am I? The eternal question, which I never thought to ask, is who am I? I was always so sure. As it turns out, I have no idea.”[v] As it turns out, she is not alone in the search for identity.
Eastern teachings might not conform to our Western ideas and paradigms but they are valuable nonetheless. The insight below is a particularly difficult Eastern teaching to understand. Ken Wilber shares some thoughts on it: “You have to be somebody before you can be nobody. The issue in personal development … is not self or no-self, but self and no-self. Both a sense of self and insight into the ultimate illusoriness of its apparent continuity and substantiality are necessary achievements.”[vi]
Insight # 49 comes to us from Ram Dass (1931-2019). He was an American spiritual teacher, psychologist and author. His best-known book Be Here Now (1971) has been described as “seminal.” It helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West.
“The game is not about becoming somebody, it’s about becoming nobody.”[vii]
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Additional Reading:
- Identity, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 1
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[i] Meany, Thomas. “Battle Cry.” The New York Times Book Review. November 17, 2019, p. 12.
[ii] Henry, Roy Charles. “Paradigm-B.” The ABC’s Of Simple Reality, Vol 2. May 2018, p. 61.
[iii] Grynbaum, Michael M. “In the Fractured Lens of Cable News, Two Impeachments for Two Nations.” The New York Times. November 17, 2019, p. 23.
[iv] Ibid.
[v] Buckley, Cara. “Her Epiphany: It Isn’t Clear.” The New York Times. May 26, 2019, p. 14.
[vi] Wilber, Ken, et al. Transformations of Consciousness. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1986, p. 49.
