What defines your identity?

While I have been on a decades quest of tango with Enlightenment, with countless experiences, seeing that the mind and who I think I am is false and glimpsing and Infinite Beingness ........ I recently got fired from my job for as my boss put it, "guilt by association". A guy who I work with and was responsible for stole gas on the company card and got busted and fired. So they let me go too....

Well knowing that no matter what I say, the President wouldn't have it and wouldnt even hear my defense, for the next 4-5 days after, it was such a shock to me to find out just how much my identity and security relied on this gig. It really made up much of who I thought I was and getting fired made me sick to my stomach. Everyone there would vouch for me that I am a good soul, but it doesnt matter anymore.

Here I was thinking that I had made a dent in my spiritual path and then come to find that my job was basically and mostly everything to me. A huge crutch in my path.

So I wonder. What exactly do you guys have in your lives that defines your identity?

As you continue your quest for enlightenment you will notice just how many things about life are of a temperament nature. Each and every one realized will continue to chip away at the false ego until you are left with "nothing". No thing, when this happens miraculous things will appear.

By the way s&f for the subject matter

I hear you. Being fired may be the best thing that has happened to you. Now you are asking questions like this....

We often define ourselves by our roles , Mother, Father, etc and by what we do. Without those identities what are we really?

Divine little sparkly bits. For me the answer is conduit. I will let you figure out what I mean by that

I was fired for no reason once. Painful and hard not to be outraged. Still I found another job and the old one called me in a couple of months saying they had made a mistake and would I come back. Nope.... I learned that the "worst thing ever" could happen to me and I survived, not only that prospered. You have beliefs now is the test.

I realize I didn't answer your question but your question implys a search for truth and with soulful questions such as this, personal experiance is the best teacher.

My identity is my general adapted understanding of the universe I live in..my sort of perspective.
A job can or can not effect this, same with general life situations as they come...
But none of that is my identity, my identity is how I manage that.

Sometimes being unemployed as an adult for a year or two is a good thing, it makes you sort of trapped inside of yourself without distractions and lets you find your core "you".

But my identity is the sum total of things I have learned and accepted as part of me. This comes from conversation, introspection, research, and desire.
And its constantly being updated (or arguably downgraded).

When I was in my teens, I knew very well who I was
When I hit my late 20s/30s, I realized I had no real clue who I was..yet, I felt I actually knew myself more by realizing that...it allowed for me to truely see past the day to day fluff and see what is constant...

Finding out what ones soul consists of is a difficult quest. good luck with that.

Originally posted by dominicus
Here I was thinking that I had made a dent in my spiritual path and then come to find that my job was basically and mostly everything to me. A huge crutch in my path.

Yikes. Bummer about the job. Would you have made this realization without losing it though?

I would say that my identity is defined by my perspective.

In my younger days I shed the collective identity of the church and started forming my own. It's been nice having freedom of mind.

Originally posted by twohawks
As you continue your quest for enlightenment you will notice just how many things about life are of a temperal nature. Each and every one realized will continue to chip away at the false ego until you are left with "nothing". No thing, when this happens miraculous things will appear.

By the way s&f for the subject matter

edit on 4-3-2012 by twohawks because: (no reason given)

I see myself in relation to Christ, but like you, that relationship or perception is always expanding. My perception is limited but expands as I learn about what Christ did for me. That is in fact the Christian journey. Sooner or later, like twohawks, I realized that I am nothing and that Christ is everything, Revelation 22:13. As I, symbolically, take up my cross like Christ did and surrender my selfish desires in favor of the desires of God then the spirit of Christ lives through me, Galatians 2:20. I believe since I try to do the things that Christ did then his spirit lives in me which means that my spirit will continue to be with him after my body dies. In other words, my identity isn’t restricted to this time and place and circumstances but sits with Christ who is at the right hand of God, Mark 16:19.

Some people make fun of me but I don’t care because Christ is the only one that has ever offered me any real hope as I walk through this valley of the shadow of death, Psalm 23:4. When people falsely accuse me of doing things that I didn’t do, like your old boss did to you, it just reminds me of way that the Bible says that people falsely accused Christ. My faith grows stronger when people mistreat me because their behavior proves that the Bible is true when it claimed that people mistreated Christ. Some hopeless people try to discourage me from having hope in Christ but that just makes me hope all the more simply because I don’t want to be hopeless like them. I’m not always successful at trying to follow Christ’s example but I try, and I believe that, in the end, that’s all that I need to be.

reply to post by dominicus


dont get mad get even whats there weakness exploit it go to an emploment lawyer .stalk our ex boss .you got all the time now watch fight club scene where he blames boss for beating him up euha . stand outside the firm with a homeless board dont wash or shave for days go to town after all whats the worst they can do put you in a room & give you 3 meals a day just loose it man .stop being a victim

Interesting questions. I think our identity, who we are, is our personalities. It is what makes each of us unique in all the world. What defines this? Hmmm, what we think, believe, and project out into the world I guess.

reply to post by Night Star


thats probably why they hide all the sharp things when im around

Hey dominicus,

One I'm sorry you got fired from your job but don't beat yourself up or not get mad for losing your job its a learning experince and I'm sure you will find another job real soon!!!

Two to anwser to your question, "What defines your identity?" Since I haven't found myself yet I would say in my opinon that our personality defines our identity and how we were raised as kids just saying since that is my opinon on the matter.

Thrid I wish you luck and hope you find another job soon just keep applying for jobs and don't give up!!!

reply to post by Dare3


A job should never define someone though its a part of you I have to agree with Dare personality defines a person whom they are and many people may agree.

Originally posted by dominicus
What exactly do you guys have in your lives that defines your identity?

My writing, my taste in music, my eccentric sense of humour and my dry, sardonic, sarcastic wit.

Originally posted by dominicus

So I wonder. What exactly do you guys have in your lives that defines your identity?

My cents of humor.

Ribbit

Originally posted by curious7

Originally posted by dominicus
What exactly do you guys have in your lives that defines your identity?

My writing, my taste in music, my eccentric sense of humour and my dry, sardonic, sarcastic wit.

For the Curious to be eccentric, they must have no wit.

But that eccentric comment, of course, would be playing off your unwet sardonically sarcastic wit.

Ribbit

reply to post by dominicus


I don't know if I have an identity.

I mean, there are certain things I like to do... I live in a particular house... I have a particular job... I have a particular family... but that's not my identity. Those are just facets of me and parts of what make up my current life.

I think my "identity" is indescribable in words. It is some essence of me that I feel the most when I am elbow deep in rich, dark soil, humming to myself, watching leaves waving near my face, and smiling at bugs flying nearby.

That's who I am.

reply to post by dominicus


Sorry about your difficulties, friend. These are the times when the greatest insights happen though. Happiness and warmth of security are very shallow and surface level feelings, while fear, doubt and disappointment are feelings we can delve deep within to better understand the mind. Use this time to grasp a better understanding of life.

Enlightenment is such a loaded word. People will spend 30 or 40 years searching for it and die before they ever do. It is not something you can find because it is you. 'You are that' as Nisargadatta Maharaj would put it. The only powerful realization you must have is that 'you' are not the mind or the body, the mind and body are a part of you, but you are not that. Seeing this deeply, in the core of your being, and not just philosophically or as an idea, is the enlightenment (the light that illuminates the darkness of ignorance). Everything after this is a matter of refinement. Disappointment or fear may still arise in an enlightened beings mind, but they do not identify with the mind so all of these things just slides right past without ever having anything to stick to.

When you say, "I have not found enlightenment", you need to ask yourself, "who is the 'I' that is saying this."

Hope all is well, and is as it is.
Peace.

I am something the universe is doing.

Originally posted by dominicus

So I wonder. What exactly do you guys have in your lives that defines your identity?

I believe identity is anything that you associate yourself with that you define yourself by.