Identification Is Not the Problem

Nor is it going away—but within it appears a practical path for the seeker

Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981

My teacher once said that if he could receive a single wish, he would ask for a day without identification. “Just to know how it feels,” he added.

Identification, a concept most sharply developed in the work of spiritual philosopher G.I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949) and also heard in Buddhism and other traditions, means associating self with thing, such as career or money.

I note two things in my teacher’s statement:

1. I believe he meant it. He was more committed to the search than I am.

2. He dedicated his life to the search. If identification seemed so entrenched to him, consider what any seeker faces.

But I wonder: if identification—self as thing—is implacable, or practically so, can it be considered a problem? Or, is identification innate to the human situation, like the need for shelter?

Rather than eluding identification, there may exist a different approach; one that acknowledges the suffering of fixation—while transmuting it.