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Thursday, August 24, 2017

Identity -the root cause of many problems

                 1. We need to find out the root cause of all problems and diseases                            and not merely react to the symptoms

Any issue, problem or disease cannot be cured by trying to work based merely and only on the externally manifested symptoms and addressing to stop them.

One needs to go deeper and try to decipher the root cause[s].

If we look into most of the troubles and observe without bias and tendency to justify any specific outlook or stand or position, we may notice the root cause which ends up manifesting in varying degrees of intensities, forms and manner depending on the context, circumstances, the players involved and many other concomitant socio-cultural nurturing which almost parasitically permeate into the collective socio-cultural and psychological fabric and starts impacting everything and everyone.

What is that root cause? Let us find out.

It is in a word it is some ‘Identity’ which starts filtering, interpreting and extrapolating everything to align with that specific identity and everything else becomes unwelcome.

Some identity orientation, per say is inevitable but how we treat other identities is what matters most.

So, once we identify the root cause and accept it then we can proceed to analyze its components and address them one by one.


                  














   2. Manifestations of identities with varying degrees of intensity

Fondness, Ferventness, Faith and Fanaticism are the multiple frequencies of the spectrum of affinity- ranging from subtle to substantial impact.

These frequencies are not mere verbal nuances but can be nice or nasty depending on how they manifest the intensity of one’s reverence and reaction to anything.

If we adopt the armor of sense of balance and the tool of refined rationality devoid of any identity based reaction to anything, though this may sound very idealistic or even utopian, then, it serves to provide a level playing field for all individuals irrespective of any identity.

Rational approaches refine what is otherwise viewed as contrasts that divide into variations that seek synergy.

Life is impregnated with the inevitable polarity principle in many aspects and identities are no exception.

Identities of all hues while they enable creating social groups at the same time enfeeble options for universal acceptance.

I have very often held that identity, though inevitable, excessive and exclusive veneration is at the heart of many problems be it in the realm of religion, region, language, tradition, culture, nationhood and so on.

In a sense identities symbolize fences.




We need maps to know the planet but we need to protect the planet beyond mapped concerns.

I have written reams and reams on this theme of ‘Identity’ while writing on various subjects.

I shall give links to some here.








                       














 3.  Identity or ideology veneration

Any identity or ideology veneration is, by itself, a limiting factor and therefore self defeating if it claims to help one’s perception or enhance one’s well being.

Trying to interpret and ideologically portray certain facts or issues or events or persons or life in terms of perspectives based on any such ideological or identity fixation can have an impact which may impede or hamper original experience and/or perception as it may prompt many to view facts and life’s events only through prisms of such ideological templates.

Though this is inevitable and also in some cases it can benefit the individual and the society at large.
However, in many cases it can create a major cultural and mental block.

The havoc is more if an ideology masquerades as a great religious or social philosophy endorsed by publicity and ensconced in appealing logical fallacies, exaggerated presentation of apparent inequalities, cynicism and attractive vocabulary and all these factors well sewed up, linked and designed to project and peddle a victim hood.

What these types of approaches end up doing is creating many sub ideologies and identities with multiple petty ideology peddling heroes instead of real scholars.

These people quickly cause social engineering but also leave inadvertently a byproduct of individual psychological depravity.

Basically this individual psychological depravity takes on a new dimension of collective subversion, of all systems and procedures done with good intentions, leading to numbness of conscious concern.

More so because certain social ideologies emanate from a mixture of undefined and unrefined criticism of all existing systems and approaches [ with all their niceties and nastiness] and rejects and ejects all systems that do not fall in line with the new found social ideology.

All sorts of misinterpretations happen precisely in all extremisms in the name of religion, politics, socio –economic systems etc especially when fixed ideologies replace philosophical inquiries and deprive independent and free experiments and experiences.

The proponents of such regimented ideologies are inane politicians projected as elite ones by media publicity as both of them [media and petty ideology peddling politicians] as a group stand to benefit out of such alignments.


On the whole they lead to psychological depression, social unrest and unhappy life by creating walls and fences of perpetual sense of insecurity combined with vacuous inanity.






                         











  4. Self imprisonment in certain identities based on some isms or   ideologies.

Unfortunately some good hearted people get self imprisoned in certain identities based on some isms or ideologies.

Therefore, they are unable and unwilling to entertain new ideas as that disturbs the walls of the prison and they do not want to risk life in the outside world which they feel will unsettle their comfort zone of ideologically imprisoned life.

Any one is at liberty to live with or for certain ideas, ideologies and opinions which they hold dear to their heart but not live exclusively soaked in those opinions alone and finally sink their whole life in the small whirl pools of such ideas, ideologies and opinions.

I wish those who think and realized that they may be living in such self imprisonment may read these two links which I wrote for some such good and well educated friends of mine on both sides of the spectrum of highly opinionated living.

Self imprisonment works in these ways without even our realizing it.

“Everything changes as you move through three stages of awareness:
first, that beliefs are the result of conditions;
second, that beliefs are the cause of conditions;
and third, that beliefs are themselves conditions.”― Eric Micha'el Leventhal


 “All of us have our own inner fears, beliefs, opinions. These inner assumptions rule and govern our lives. A suggestion has no power in and of itself. Its power arises from the fact that you accept it mentally.”― Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

We must realize that the subconscious mind is the law of action and always expresses what the conscious mind has impressed on it. What we regularly entertain in our mind creates a conception of self. What we conceive ourselves to be, we become.” Grace Speare.



      














       5. External identity ends up occupying our time and mind space

Any external identity because it ends up occupying our time and mind space so much that without realizing it such external identities become our second nature and slowly like a parasite devours our original nature.

Then we also succumb to such identities as it was us who chose, allowed and decided to wallow in the supposed worthiness of all those identities starting from religion, culture, language, thrust upon relationships and so on.

However, can we avoid any such identity is a big puzzle?

Sometimes it is out of our own jubilant choice and sometimes it gets tagged out of necessity of circumstances.

We cannot avoid many identities. Should we deny or try to drive away or try to compare or extrapolate with some ideology etc?   The answer is a big ‘No’.

However, we need not get addicted to any identity and also we can tolerate other identities.

Only such practical attitude can lead to some sane and peaceful social life.

“All of us have our own inner fears, beliefs, opinions. These inner assumptions rule and govern our lives. A suggestion has no power in and of itself. Its power arises from the fact that you accept it mentally.”― Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

We must realize that the subconscious mind is the law of action and always expresses what the conscious mind has impressed on it. What we regularly entertain in our mind creates a conception of self. What we conceive ourselves to be, we become.” Grace Speare.

Peace and Harmony are defined indirectly by wanting too much of same Identity in everyone and everywhere and want of  Tolerance.


Most importantly we must acquire the wisdom to make unbiased balanced views on everything concerned with life so that we can try to grasp the meaning of life with all its harsh realities and real hues and facets of variety that life is made of.



  













  6. Can any single ideology arrogate itself to extrapolate                                                                       everything?

Worse still, can that ideology accuse others of whipping up passions?


Provocation and counter justifications crop up whenever things happen different from the readymade stereotyped narratives and profiling scripted by some predominant ideological identity veneration in the main stream media that has, unfortunately appropriated the term liberal.


Predictably these hardcore ideologues tend to extrapolate everything, purely and only, according to their versions of social correctness without the least home work about context and care about sensitivities of the stake holders.


They do it without any qualms  be it art, science, religion, economics, trade, culture, individual learning, independent thinking, aesthetic sensitivity and almost everything under the sky except perhaps reviewing liberally their own ideologically fixation.



Worse still when these provocateurs in chief not only presume that they have the exclusive privilege and prerogative to perpetuate opinions and market news through main stream media [MSM] but also suffer from selective amnesia.

It is good that the huge army of almost omnipresent social media is enabling the larger public aware of other versions of the story and real facts [of course every now and then Social Media too resorts to unverified and unauthenticated panic projections and rumor recreations].


So, ultimately both the stereotyped ideologues of MSM and the high priests of counter ideas are spending most of their time and energy in not doing much productive activities and instead end up using most of it on piling up weapons of attacking propaganda and pillorying by one group and while the other is busy producing protective armors of counter justifications and making tall claims as required proportionate to the provocative attacks and pillorying.



Both keep on enhancing their aggression, appropriations and assigning labels and these activities move on as a never ending extremism from which human race needs reprieve.


Now, you decide who needs to be restrained or ignored?




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