Every child has to have an identity. He or she needs answers to the question, “Who am I?” in order to perceive his or her existence. No identity, no sense of “being.”
The culture into which we are born addresses this need with consensually-agreed upon beliefs, concepts and the like that are inculcated into subliminal consciousness through many repetitions over a long period of time.
Thus, we develop identities much the same way a river develops a sandbar, one grain of sand building upon another year after year. And like a sandbar altering the water’s course, the path of consciousness is eventually altered by the structure that now deflects its current.
In the case of consciousness moving toward enlightened awareness, past a certain point in our development, a fixed sense of self can hinder progress. Our job as active participants in the evolutionary process is to dissolve the sandbar.
Sandbars are best removed in the manner that they originally formed: one grain at a time. These are our identities, after all; we cannot afford to lose them all of a sudden.
That is why the change process takes so long. If we were able to remove the disruption in the flow too quickly, there would be paralyzing disorientation in regard to who we are and what we are doing here.
With fundamental change, it is best to take a patient and persistent approach. Just keep paying attention to the beliefs, opinions and positions that you become aware of that you hold about anything. Remember, any statement that begins with “I think ... I believe ... it is my opinion that ...,” especially the ones that we feel most strongly about, is first and foremost an expression of “I am” and represents a grain of sand in that barrier.
Don’t attack any of them; just note them and let them go. Like the water itself, they are sure to come by again. When they do, just take note and let go. With time, the mass will dissolve and the flow will be released. Things then look quite different.
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