Identification

Identification We have talked about the fragmentation into many ‘I’s. Another important point to understand is that all of us are constantly in a state of identification. It’s not easy to understand what this means, and how pervasive this state is. To identify oneself means to lose one's sense of identity, to place it in something external to one’s real self, projecting it toward an object, a person, an idea, a feeling. When we are identified, the sense of “I am” is stolen from us. We look at something—a beautiful woman, let's say —and we lose ourselves in her, we disappear, letting the feeling of “I am here” escape in that moment. We can identify with an increase in salary, with a car model, with a political or religious idea, with the beauty of our body, or with the idea of being good and honest. With anything, really. Even with the ugliness of a picture in a diner, if we want. With divided attention, in contrast, we keep something for ourselves, without losing the perception of what is in front of us. Only then can we really see what is around us. In this context, we can say that identification is the absence of divided attention. For those who attempt spiritual work, divided attention is normality, the state to be sought and maintained, while identification is the negative exception. It does not matter if, counting the hours and minutes, we discover that we spend 99% of the time in a state of identification. It’s still abnormality. Frequent abnormality. In Leonardo's version, when the archangel visits Mary to announce the conception of Christ, she, while giving the unprecedented situation all its miraculous value, does not forget to keep her place in her book with two fingers. Sergio Antonio, "A Question of Presence"

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