Identification - The Essence of Meditation ESSENCE1.TXT *********************************************************************** Written by Dinu Roman ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The process of identification is considered by many psychologists to be very important both for the understanding of the primary development of personality and for decoding its further evolution. From the point of view of the yogic psychology, identification is a process of resonance. (see my other article on resonance). Out of this complex, profound and universal phenomenon, modern psychology knows only a few limited and superficial aspects. This is the reason why in the following material I will endeavour to present as clearly as possible the profound nature of identification as it is explained within the yogic psychology. Viewed as a psychological concept, identification has several meanings and implications which seem to point in various directions, but which are deeply related. These different meanings and implications of the process of identification can be more easily understood if we first analyze the different forms of identification from the yogic point of view. FORMS OF COMMON IDENTIFICATION The common forms of identification fall into four categories: 1. Identification (as a resonance based process) with people. Two main forms of this identification can be distinguished here: 1a. Identification with an idealized human being or with a human being whom we admire a lot, such as a parent, teacher, hero, role model, etc. Through this type of identification one human being gradually incorporates (by triggering and maintaining certain processes of resonance) aspects of the personality of another human being. Most of the time this manifests as an unconscious tendency to become like the other person, which is taken as a model. Identification as a resonance process is in this case a form of emulation. The difference is that this kind of identification is mostly an unconscious process, while emulation implies mostly conscious efforts. Freud appears to be the first western scholar who wrote about identification. He used this concept to explain the building of what he calls the over-ego (i.e., the structure that is beyond the ego) of a child. According to his opinion, the over-ego is in fact the result of a thorough identification with the parents and consequent assimilation of their values. 1b. Identification with relatives, friends or other human beings to whom we are in a relation of love, sympathy and affection. The degree of such identification depends on the degree of feeling and consists mostly of an unconscious tendency to think, feel and act in a deep resonance with the being for which we have the respective feeling. In this way, the other being is perceived as being an extension of ourselves. States of happiness, aspiration, etc., of the model are sympathetically felt (with greater or smaller intensity, directly proportional with the energy we have) as if they would be our own. In this category falls also our identification with a group to which we are deeply and constantly affiliated, such as a political party, a football team, an association, a spiritual school, a club, a nation etc. 2. Identification (as a resonance process) with our descriptive traits. In society we identify mostly with our various descriptive traits, such as: family, social group, religion, nationality, race, occupation, social position and so on. Here, identification means that these 'labels' are seen as a part of our own individuality; our idea about ourselves is intimately associated with these descriptions. The feeling of narcissism (the sentiment of love towards ourselves), is then unconsciously extended to our name, social group, religion etc. with which we identify ourselves. Feelings of pride and shame regarding our own descriptive characteristics also reveal a state of identification triggered by specific processes of resonance. 3. Identification with our own parts or aspects. In this category falls the profound and long lasting identification with our physical body, ideals, feelings, aspirations, impulses, or with our mind and its ideas or thoughts. Such a profound and long lasting identification implies that the respective part or aspect with which we identify is viewed as identical with ourselves. As a result, we consider the moods, feelings, activities and reactions of that part of ourselves as being our own moods, feelings activities and reactions. For example, if our body is sick we feel this and say "I am sick"; when a certain thought appears in our mind and triggers a state of resonance we say "Now I am thinking" etc. The Hindu psychology deals a lot with this type of identification that triggers processes of resonance. This is also recognized in the concepts of some western scholars such as Robert Assagioli, the founder of the Psychosynthesis therapeutic system. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Carl Jung, the well known Swiss psychiatrist, wrote about the possibility to identify ourselves with a certain personality trait such as masculinity, femininity, introversion, extroversion etc. This kind of identification implies that the respective trait is viewed as an essential feature of ourselves. After this identification becomes a fact, we will start to act (sometimes unconsciously) in terms of that personality trait. 4. Identification with our own possessions Identification with our possessions (i.e., the goods we have) manifests through our sense of possession we have for them. The sense of property implies the fact that in this case the possession is considered to be an extension of our own being. As a consequence we will feel seriously affected by all that affects our possessions. In such a situation, the praise or criticism towards one of our possessions is felt as being pointed towards our own being; the damage or destruction of one of our possessions causes us pain as if it would have been effected directly opon ourselves. FEATURES OF COMMON IDENTIFICATION The main psychological traits of the above mentioned common forms of identification are: a) The main feature of identification is implied in the etymological root of this term: idem, which means "the same". Identification as a process of resonance implies that the thing, human being, trait, quality, virtue, feeling, ideal or part chosen as model is considered to be the same (identical) with ourselves. I must point out here that in terms of Western psychology the basis of this form of identification is generally the ego; our ego extends itself to different degrees to embrace through resonance the chosen model which to a certain extent is considered to be the same (identical) with ourselves. b) Because the trait, element or aspect that we identify with is considered an extension of our ego, the inherent love of the ego for itself extends towards the thing, human being, trait or part that we identify with. We can thus understand why the common forms of identification are frequently featured by a strong attachment towards the object of identification. c) Identification as a process of resonance is frequently an unconscious process triggered shortly after the arising of intense emotional reactions which are intimately associated with the object (model) of our identification. It is generally called an unconscious process because we can be aware of it only after its formation. The emotional reactions which we associate at this time are unintentional in the sense that we cannot control the feelings involved even if we take care that the process of identification will not influence our thoughts and actions. For example, if sometimes a very close friend has a conflict with someone else, we almost cannot help ourselves not to have in our turn a pregnant feeling of sympathy towards our friend despite the fact that, when analyzing with a clear mind the facts, we realize that the other person is right. This is even more obvious when we must take a decision to his advantage. In the light of the above mentioned features of the common forms of identification, it is hardly surprising that in psychotherapy the accent falls almost exclusively on its dangerous aspects. When psychotherapists refer to identification they emphasize almost every time the necessity to dis-identify, so that we can free ourselves of all negative influences of unconscious identifications which bond and limit our being. However, considering things from the point of view of a more profound, yogic psychology, it is worth to emphasize that there are basically two essential types of identification - a common, unconscious identification which leads to misery, ignorance and karma-ic bonds, and a conscious identification which leads to everlasting joy, spiritual knowledge and inner freedom. THE TWO BASIC TYPES OF IDENTI-FICATION THAT TRIGGER IN OUR BEING STATES OF RESONANCE In the following I will deal - mainly from the yogic point of view - with the two main types of identification that trigger in our being processes of good or evil resonance. Generally speaking, awareness is our capacity to absorb to various degrees any objective aspect by identifying with it. Only about the Supreme Consciousness we can say that it is perfectly aware and knows all the effects of identification. Common awareness does not bring knowledge in the real sense of the word: it is only when our consciousness participates fully, being profoundly integrated into the Divine Consciousness, that we can obtain a thorough and complete knowledge through identification with the object. Unconscious and chaotic identification leads to ignorance, because the awareness loses itself in ephemeral states, without understanding what really happens then. Thus, we often identify with an uncontrolled manifestation of rage and then suddenly our entire being becomes (as a result of resonance), a vibration of blind rage which makes us forget for a moment everything else. Only when we remain a lucid and uninvolved participant, a completely unaffected witness in the midst of passions, are we truly able to see and understand the reality of what is happening. Thus, when we are in an ordinary state of consciousness, objective knowledge can be obtained only when we adopt a state of expectation, being detached of the phenomenon we want to know without identifying with it. From these statements we can draw two profound implications regarding the nature of identification: a) We become aware of the objective reality through a process of identification (which triggers processes of resonance) realized to varous degrees. In other words, becoming really aware of a thing or human being means first of all that to a certain extent it is necessary to identify ourselves with the respective object or being. To better understand these aspects you need to relate to the esoteric knowledge of the svara yoga system (re: the functions of the astral body, especially pramana). In this theory it is explained that in fact we perceive a certain object or human being only to the extent to which the latter produces, by means of tattva-ic radiation, states of resonance in our mental and astral bodies. Therefore, we can say that in these circumstances the object that serves as a support for our identification is mirrored in our being and generates a state of resonance that has the same vibratory frequency with the tattva-ic radiation of the respective object. In other words, in that moment we are attuning (through our aspiration to identify) the frequency of our being to the specific frequency of the object. By this process we gradually awaken in us latencies that allow us to cognitively integrate that object in our structure, and identify with it. This aspect emphasizes for us another important idea, viz., that the essential process of identification always occurs through the resonance that appears between the knower and the object of knowledge. This also shows us that in fact any authentic knowledge implies a process of identification, even in the case of a common state of consciousness. If you understand this, you realize that in fact we identify more or less with all we do and with all things or living beings that we come in contact with. The normal state of an ordinary person is to be superficially (and unconsciously) identified with, and dispersed in all he does. The truth of the statement that even the fact of being superficially aware of a thing or a being implies a certain degree of identification with that thing or being, would be easier to understand if we study an example related to feelings and emotions. From the psychological point of view, to be truly able to intimately recognize the feelings of another human being implies to sympathetically open and resonate with what he is experiencing. In other words, to become directly aware of the feelings of another human being we must identify ourselves deeply with the feelings of the respective human being. Considering the higher aspects of identification, the yogin-s gain knowledge through conscious identification (saŕyama). This is one of the highest forms of knowledge, which consists in becoming one with the knowable object and with the knowledge that arises, and at the same time keeping your individuality intact. In connection with this aspect, the great yogin Sri Aurobindo said: "In fact, any experience is in its secret nature a state of knowledge through identification; however its real character is hidden from us because we are separated from the rest of the world by exclusion, which is the distinction we make between our being as a subject and the rest of the world as the object. Therefore, I can say that we are forced to develop organs and processes through which we can consciously enter again in communion with all that we excluded. For that reason we are compelled to replace direct knowledge - which is instantly attainable through a perfect and conscious identification - with an individual, superficial and partial knowledge which occurs through physical contact and a state of mental sympathy." From all of the above follows that there is something deep behind any form of identification, something specific only to human beings: an ultimate and secret knowledge instantly realized through a mysterious power of identification. This is a quality of our eternal Self (atman). The common forms of identification presented above are partial pieces of a vast and all pervading process which is mostly hidden to our awareness. Identification, considered in its essential reality, is thus a much more complex and vast process than it is known in modern psychology. b) The second implication of the process of identification concerns the double nature of this process: unconscious and conscious. The common (i.e., unconscious) type of identification leads mostly to ignorance because then the awareness of a human being almost loses itself in the object and "forgets" everything else. Yogic teachings refer to the possibility to realize a superior, conscious identification, which gradually leads to real knowledge because then the awareness becomes identical with the essential truth which exists in all objects and beings. Advanced yogin-s say that we can know totally and profoundly the character of a man by perfect identification with that man. "You must always become the things you want to know", says Sri Aurobindo. The key of the paradox that identification can also lead us to ignorance lies in the understanding of the relationship between the two types of identification. This relationship is the same with the relationship between desire and love. At its origin, desire is a hidden need to grow. For example in the case of inferior life forms, love is transformed into a need to swallow, absorb, become one with another thing or being. The most primitive form of love manifests in the lowest form of life and expresses often through possession and absorption. This need to posses is desire. If we dive deep enough into the depths of our unconscious minds, we will discover that the origin of desire is love - which assumes in this case the most hidden and unconscious form. Love is the need to become one with something. Identification that leads to ignorance can be described in the same terms as being a mysterious identification with the Divine, done in a primitive, unconscious and ambiguous way. As I have already mentioned when I described the features of common identification, one of its basic components is attachment. On the other hand, superior, conscious identification is always accompanied by a total lack of attachment. Indeed, we know already that a perfect detachment and neutrality represent foremost conditions for a knowledge based on total identification. If there is any detail, no matter how small, which is not seen in this light of perfect neutrality, that detail cannot be included in us during the state of conscious identification. One can say that the absence of any personal reaction is a primary request when we are attempting to attain an objective knowledge. We can really know a certain thing only when we are completely detached from it or, to be more exact, when we are not at all preocupied with it in a personal, egotic manner. Concerning the dominating urge to accumulate things, the great yogin Sri Aurobindo used to say: "Men feel their limitations and then they believe that to grow, to develop and even to survive they absolutely have to acquire outer things because then they are marked by the awareness of their personal limitations. It is an obvious fact that this is a mistake. The truth is that instead of indulging in keeping their limits, they need to expand their awareness as fast as possible, to become really able to not only consciously identify themselves with others, but also to become able to expand beyond the limits of their individual consciousness in the realm of the Universal Consciousness, and at the same time to consciously become one with all things. Only at that moment, and not earlier, all their petty limits will really disappear. As long as we feel our limits and restrictions, we want to accumulate because then we are afraid not to lose something... Then we try to grab, to accumulate over and over, but this process of accumulation is ultimately impossible (for our inner being) because in fact no man can gather things but externally. What we need to do in this case is to identify ourselves with our Immortal Divine Essence within us (atman). The more we are dispersing outwards, the more we want only to have, but the more we identify ourselves with our Divine Self (atman), the more we will truly be. After this, instead of only taking, we will start to give. And then, the more we will give the faster we will grow and transform. To succeed we must be truly able to get out of the limits of our own ego. For this reason we must identify as frequently as possible with the Fundamental Vibration of Cosmic Consciousness instead of identifying with our own ego." The basic difference between the two types of identification is clearly revealed in the above quote. While the first type of identification involves our ego, the other type propels us beyond the limits of our ego. As an exception, there are types of identifications which in spite of the fact that are ego-involved, make us forget the ego. These identifications may appear under certain circumstances even in ordinary life but just because they occur outside our awareness, they are not usually recognized as identification phenomena. For example: when we read a very captivating book, we dive complete in that story. This is a phenomenon of identification. If we could consciously bring it to a certain level of perfection, we would gradually understand how things are when we go beyond our ego. There comes a certain moment in which we are so completely and deeply absorbed into the story that we are able to sense how it will evolve and end. This fact points out that we are thoroughly and profoundly identified with the creative inspiration and the thoughts of the author at the time he wrote that novel. CONSCIOUS IDENTIFICATION As pointed previously, one of the features of the common forms of identification which involves the ego is that they represent mostly an unconscious process. We saw that there are certain situations where the superior type of identification in which we forget about the ego (therefore, transcend it) can also be unconscious. However, if the first type of identification is necessarily unconscious, the second type can be learned and generated at will. In fact, we can infer that genuine knowledge can only be obtained through a profound and conscious identification because real knowledge is nothing but conscious existence in itself. With this understanding we can see now that through regular practice we can learn to focus our awareness on something or someone and become more and more profoundly one with the respective thing or person. Only through this type of identification we will really succeed to know the real (i.e., objective) nature of that person or thing. The millennial practice of yoga is based upon this type of conscious identification which represents the very basic principle of inner transformation. The sage Patajali in the third chapter of his famous Yoga Sutra speaks about the awakening of the supernatural powers and refers to many types of conscious identification. For example, a total and profound identification (samyama) with the word, its significance and the knowledge that results from this significance leads the yogin to a supernormal knowledge of the language of all beings (chapter III sutra 17); the identification with the specific impressions of the subconscious (samskaras) leads the supernormal knowledge of previous lives (chapter III sutra 18); the identification (samyama) with the mental content of a human being reveals to the yogin the thoughts and feelings of the respective human being (chapter III sutra 19); the identification (samyama) with the form of the physical body gives the power of invisibility (chapter III sutra 21); the identification (samyama) with states such as sympathy, love, joy, fun, humbleness, detachment, kindness, calmness, compassion, goodness etc., allows the yogin to experience fully all these beneficial states and thus he can obtain easily any quality (virtue) that he desires --(chapter III sutra 24), etc. In Raja Yoga the process of profound and total identification (samyama) includes all three superior phases of the practice of Yoga: dharana (perfect mental concentration), dhyana (deep meditation) and samadhi (divine unifying bliss). (see my article on Mystery of Meditation). Thus, if for example we choose for concentration a certain object, we need to firmly yet effortlessly direct the mind upon that object to the exclusion of all other objects (this process represents dharana) until we become one with the respective object. Only when we feel this intimate closeness with the object can we say that we are starting to become one with it, process that represents dhyana - deep meditation. If after that we will continue with enough strength, being at the same time in a state of inner peace and detachment, at a certain moment we will reach a door which will instantly open and if we succeed to pass through, all will melt in the Undifferentiated Mysterious Light (this process represents the state of samadhi - the divine unifying bliss). Simple method of identification Now I will describe a simple and practical method of conscious identification. Suppose that you argue with a person. Instead of trying to find more arguments to prove our point, it is worthwhile to try to 'enter' in his own mind and resonate with it. This is a conscious identification (samyama). To make it easy, the first step would be to stop and disassociate from your personality and ideas by saying to yourself: "Now I am stopping this argument and want to mirror with lucidity and understand why he tells me such things" Concentrate single-mindedly on this subject, repeating in our mind from a witness perspective: "Why, why?" Concentrate intensely yet effortlessly on the words of the other person and take them in - through his own words you can enter his mind (in fact this is the ineffable process of resonance). By doing this, you will start to understand his way of thinking. After a few successful experiences with this technique you will understand why a superior (i.e., more evolved) person is always able to understand an inferior person, and the reason is that almost always a superior person is able to do samyama (total and profound identification) with the mind of an inferior human being, while the inferior person is never able (as long as he indulges in this state) to realize this type of profound and total identification with the mind of the superior person. Therefore, if you identify with the person you argue, instead of considering him a strange fellow, you will resonate with his mind and through this process you will suddenly swap sides and look at yourselves with the eyes of the other person and understanding very well what the other person tells you. Acting in this way everything, or almost everything will be clear for you and you will succeed to truly understand the reasons and feelings behind his statements. It is however necessary to keep in mind that knowing (a thing or human being) through identification (with that thing or human being) is different from knowing through identification with the Supreme Reality. Therefore, we can say that from the point of view of spiritual evolution, there are three forms of profound identification: 1. The unconscious identification, centered around our ego, which leads to attachment and misery. 2. The deep, conscious identification with an object, process, being or thing, which leads in its superior forms even to the attainment of supernatural powers (siddhi-s). This type of identification may also lead to attachment and misery (if it is ego-centered), or may become a great help in your inner development (if it is done from the perspective of a higher center than the ego). 3. The deep, conscious identification with the Supreme Reality. This is the only way to safely attain real and ultimate knowledge, because it takes you outside of your ego into the ultimate center - the Self. Through a perfect state of oneness with the Supreme, we can enjoy forever the supreme nature of the Cosmic Consciousness and thus we can have a total and perfect knowledge every time we come in contact with an object or living being, because we can instantaneously, profoundly and totally identify with it. This is the superior stage of identification that the Yoga Sutra speaks of. Total and profound identification, seen as a process, does not only eliminate the limits of our sensory perception, but also offers a glimpse into the ultimate heart (i.e., divine essence) of the object or being which we identify with. For that reason The Eight Great Supernatural Powers (maha siddhi-s) attained through samyama done on the superior aspects of Reality have their correspondence in the Eight Great Spiritual Powers (maha siddhi-s) obtained through samyama on the Supreme Divine Self (atman) and its attributes. Ramana Maharishi's path of evolution is the way of revealing the Supreme Self (atman) by interrogation and introspection triggered by the essential question "Who am I?" In the light of the above mentioned aspects about identification this question implies a separation (i.e., dis - identification) from the evanescent aspects such as: physical body, senses, feelings, thoughts, the ego and so on. Ultimately we discover a profound and total identification with our ultimate nature, the Divine Self (atman). Conclusion What we need to do to know the Divine is to learn to identify ourselves totally, profoundly and consciously with it. As long as we will not know how to consciously identify, there will be thousands of things and states that will always block our spiritual path. If we learn to identify totally and consciously, it will be enough to point our power of identification to the Divine and to maintain it there long enough until this identification will trigger the blissful flow of the Divine Grace upon us. The mysterious miracle of identification represents in fact a basic modality given by the Creator, in His immense love, to the creature, so that the creature can get to know the whole Creation and its Creator. Identification is uniquely a matter of triggering and maintaining processes of resonance which make possible any interaction between any parts of the Whole. Identification and resonance allow in fact the realization of the relationship between the microcosm of any human being and the macrocosm. In this direction the Eastern wisdom has a very concise and wise statement: Sarvam Sarvatmakam - "Everything has the nature of everything else". By the virtue of this principle we can easily understand that in fact any of us can identify with everything and anything that exists. The Kashmir Shivaism offers in this direction a profound spiritual basis for identification. This tradition says that identification is just a reflection of the consciousness of another person, or of the nature of an external thing, into the individual consciousness. This act is in its turn a reflection of the act by which the Divine descends into creation. The world is nothing else but a reflection, a mirroring (pratibimba) of its origin, Shiva. The Ultimate Reality, the domain of the Supreme Self (atman) is the sky of consciousness, or the mirror in which all reflects. In this situation, unlike when we look into a mirror, there is no object that is external to the "mirror of consciousness". Therefore, from the point of view of the unstable and illusive images formed on the "mirror", manifestation is nothing but an illusion; considering it from the point of view of the continuity of consciousness, "the mirror" is the same with Spirit, or God. Knowing this, we realize that the knowledge through identification is the perception of the ultimate nature of that divine "mirror" through which all is reflected. For that reason sages consider that any act of knowledge is in its ultimate nature a recognition of God.