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The problem of Mistaken Identity: Most of us, when asked who are we answer in physical terms, I am an engineer, five foot seven, black hair, live in California. That is only part of the answer, we are describing the body, where it is, what it does. There is an inner self-or selves as well. The more we identiy with the innersoul the brighter our whole life will be. When we think we are no more than the physical body very little of the imprisoned Soul within the physical body can shine forth.
This idea that we are this physical body is a case of mistaken identity according to William James an American philosopher and psychologist and the first to teach a psychology course in the USA, leads us to think and act as if we have no more resources than our little finger. The main problem with identifying ourselves with the physical body is that we spend our lives trying to satisfy nonphysical needs in physical ways, such as, aquiring an abundance of material things. The solution to mistaken idenity is not in five minutes nor five hundred years of pleasure, our solution is for something that lasts forever. That which is infinite can filled only with something infinite. The deepest driving need in our consciousness is not for any finite pleasure, but for something without limits that comes from within.
According to Malidoma Patrice Some, a West African Elder, author and teacher primarily in the field of spirituality. Born in a Dagara community in Dano, Burkina Faso stated in his book, Ritual, Power, Heaing, and Community, “A community is a place of self-definition. Any group of people meeting with the intention of connecting to the power within is a commmunity. Without a community you cannot be yourself. The community is where we draw the strength needed to effect changes inside of us. Community is formed each time more than one person meets for a purpose. Development of community depends on what the people involved consent to. What we want is to create a community that meets the intrinsic need of every individual. The individual can finally discover within the community something to relate to, because deep down inside each of us is a craving for an honoring of our individualism.”
Suggested books to read, Water and the Spirit by Malidoma Patrice Some and Ritual, Power, Healing, and Community by Malidoma Patrice Some.
