{"id":288,"date":"2011-08-27T22:36:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-27T22:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otitijasmine.wordpress.com\/2011\/08\/27\/the-identity-series-2"},"modified":"2011-08-27T22:36:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-27T22:36:00","slug":"the-identity-series-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/2011\/08\/27\/the-identity-series-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Identity Series – 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Identity is universal. Every human who walks this earth seeks it in one form or the other. We wish to know who we are, where we belong, and what purpose we serve. It is the desire to know oneself: the strengths and weaknesses, virtues and vices, preferences and pet peeves.\u00a0Society gives the growing individual a collective identity, one that binds us to our families, communities, and countries. <\/span><\/p>\n

The need for an individual identity \u00a0becomes important at some point in our lives, one that differs for each person and also lasts for varying lengths of time. Some people never really know who they are because they spend their lives copying others and trying to have the most popular or stylish opinions and views out there. They rarely stop to ask, \u201cIs this me? Do I agree with this? Do I believe this?\u201d, so how can they know they have no identities of their own?<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Identity Series is an examination of identity itself. Its purpose is to explore what it means to us, why we search for it, and why it can be one\u2019s greatest asset or greatest weapon. A sense of identity is so important because we are empty in its absence and lost without its essence. Your individual and collective identities combine to form your character and core values as a human being.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u00a0begin with the collective identity given to us by society. This occurs during one\u2019s integration into a family unit from the moment of conception in the womb. \u201cWe\u2019re expecting our first baby\u201d; \u201cI\u2019m pregnant\u201d; \u201cThis is your son\u201d; these are all statements of acceptance and belonging. You are already a part of your family even before birth, a phenomenon only possible because they identify with you as one of their own and welcome you as such. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Although it seems as if the collective identity starts from the nuclear family, it is actually a construct of the larger society. Social norms teach us our behavioural patterns, and one of those norms reinforces the blood ties we share with our family members. Blood ties are often thickest at the centre, so we usually feel closest to members of our nuclear family and treat our dearest friends\/extended family as parts of that central unit.<\/span><\/div>\n

An individual identity is what makes each one of us special and unique. It is a composite of the choices we make based on our beliefs and desires. The individual or personal identity is not necessarily similar to the collective because it is an expression of self, a proclamation of sovereignty as one’s own person. Those who lack their own convictions are those without individual identities, adrift in society’s collective and living one day to the next without a higher purpose. This explains the existence of misfits who feel they don’t belong anywhere and so have no remorse when they wreak havoc in a community. Anyway, I digress.<\/span><\/p>\n

I guess I felt the need to lay some sort of foundation for this series. Yeah there was already an overview, but it seemed like something else had to be said. I haven’t gotten any emails yet. \ud83d\ude41 Feedback isn’t restricted to the identity series, you know. It can be anything about the blog, so please write to<\/span> findotitihere@hotmail.com<\/a> and let me know what you think. Thanks! \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

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51.045925<\/span>7.01922<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Identity is universal. Every human who walks this earth seeks it in one form or the other. We wish to know who we are, where we belong, and what purpose we serve. It is the desire to know oneself: the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[52,73,88,116],"class_list":["post-288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-heart","tag-collective-identity","tag-family","tag-identity","tag-personal-identity-philosophy"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otitijasmine.com\/otitijasmine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}