“In most of our human relationships,
we spend much of our time reassuring one another
that our costumes of identity are on straight.”
– Ram Dass
(I like this quote for that reminder of how easy it is not only for us to get caught up into the world of our own identities, but also into that of others… and how much that social construct and social contract (both between individuals but also the wider view of what’s “normal” within a society) invades into our interactions. A reminder of how quickly we can become puppets playing out the typical game. We project out into the world an identity, and then, once it gets accepted by the world/others, we need to spend all our time protecting, living up to, and maintaining that image of identity. At the same time, others behave towards us based on that projected identity, keeping us further locked in (and, of course, we do the same in reverse — relating to others based on their identity costume). Without specifically agreeing to it, we’ve decided to relate to each other as that (seemingly fixed) identity. And then we get kinda trapped…)
(I also like this for it shines a light on just how much energy (one reason we can be so darn tired at the end of the day… it’s exhausting to protect something all day!) and creative juice this consumes. The productivity it eliminates. We’re less capable of self-expression not only because we’ve tied ourselves to our constructed identities, but also because there’s no time (or brain power) left to explore. And it speaks to the excitement and expansiveness of what’s possible when we (collectively) let that go…)
Lynx Thoughts 