Rethinking Identity

I’ve been re-thinking some of my earlier views about identity….

Had an interesting conversation with my beloved this evening about whether or not a change in one’s body precipitated a shift in identity. We spoke of people we know who have either gained or lost over 100 lbs, became disabled, or simply “got old”.

Clearly, how each of these people is now perceived by others is very different from their former states. Beyond that, how they experience themselves is radically changed.

I remember an individual I knew in the past who had been fully bearded for many, many years but then one day decided to bare his face. OH MY LAND it was like meeting a new man. He said he felt completely different and that it definitely had a dramatic effect on the way he interacted with people to have his whole face exposed.

So…with that in mind, how much do I consider my physical state to be an integral part of my “identity”? How much do I see identity as a static condition and how much is it a work in progress that evolves over time?

For instance, am I inherently the same person I was when I was four years old? Am I the same person I will be when (if) I arrive at eighty or ninety?

My genetics are the same as when I was four, but in just about every other way I am so very different from my early days. So, is that little girl in the pictures of me as a kid the person I USED to be or is that the person I still am, just smaller with less life experience? If I am someone new now, at what point did I leave off being that babygirl and start being me? Were there other me's inbetween? As I grow older, will my identity continue to evolve to some new state of being or will it remain constant, merely inhabiting a transformed shell?

What of a person who makes extreme life changes such as spiritual conversion or addiction recovery. Can we truly die to our old life and be renewed an a wholly new soul?

So many questions, and no real answers. But I’ll keep looking and considering…
Found some good stuff HERE.