On Identity - the qualitative consciousness

Coincidently, there was a little discussion a few days ago on the topic of Self-Identity that I had got to hear about. One of the more notable comments made was the concept that Identity is everything that makes you. Although it may seem to some as being over generalized and ambiguous, but nevertheless it is admit-able that the essence of that statement is true in its own respect.

Every new truth (concept) we learn from the world, every thought and decision that influences us to feel the way we are, every intuitive feeling we experience that we associate a logical explanation for, and every of the above which we had committed to memory. Every memory and their corresponding reactions that accumulates to form tendencies and traits, and every tendency and trait to that web of personality; every bit of personality that manifests itself in all our actions (and reactions) to form our behavior, and ultimately every bit of these that all comes together that makes us. Some of these we are able to exert some form of control at will, while others we tend to be less aware or find difficult to change. That is the formation of our psychological identity, or our conscious and subconscious self.

Of course I do not mean that the above chain of processes is the definite construct of Identity from the rudimentary basics of thoughts and feelings, since the human psyche is interdependent and complex. As much as thoughts and feelings coming together in experience to form memories and tendencies, memories and tendencies can in turn affect every subsequent thought and feeling that the individual experiences. But if I were to make analogous the entire process to that of making Kachang-Puteh, what we had discussed in the previous faculty (on logic, intuition, material and ideal) are the ingredients of Kachang-Puteh , and it doesn’t really matter whether you add the green peas before you add the peanuts, or whether it’s the other way around. Both way, we are all a characteristic blend of all four; and into a personalized concoction of personality we all be.

Now, if I were to be given the liberty to expand a little more along the analogy, we will inevitably find out that some Kachang-Puteh are tastier than others. Some will have more nuts than peas, and some will have more peas than nuts, and some will have peanuts and no more of either. And if we were to dwell deeper into the individual components, we find out that some Kachang-Puteh have better tasting peas, nuts and peanuts than others. Now, indeed the above sentences may sound lighthearted; but if were to still compare Kachang-Puteh to our Individualities, what are we leading to today?

That is to the concepts of imbalance and identity awareness. In my previous post on the MBTI and the previous faculty on the Moderation Doctrine (The Balance), I have already concluded an objective ‘better’ of integration of the four. Today, I will dwell more closely upon the second concept of identity awareness- on how it determines the quality of consciousness of the individual, and how does it allow us to find the ‘living best’ by making us be the ‘best’ of ourselves.

Some of us may be aware to the theories of Erik Erikson. Erik was a Neo-Freudian, and he had elaborated Freud’s theories of Psychosexual Development and of the Ego (in which we have made certain note of in the previous discussion). Much of his life was dedicated to the field of psychology, especially regarding the identity and the self. He was most famous for his theory of the personality, where he had developed his eight stages of Psychosocial Development (or the development of the identity). Erikson believed that the development of a strong ego identity, along with the proper integration into a stable society and culture, lead to a stronger sense of identity in general. Accordingly, a deficiency in either of these factors may increase the chance of an identity crisis or confusion.

(see above table for more information)


Of course the majority of us are already familiar to the concepts of Trust, Mistrust, Autonomy, Shame, Doubt, Industry and Inferiority. But even so, there are many around us that are still grappling with the concepts of Identity, Intimacy, Generativity and Ego Integrity. Do note that even some people are still grappling with concepts such as Trust, Autonomy and Initiative, so as we see of the paranoid, those with little confidence or the role-confused. After all, the age group only denotes the approximate timings for an individual to face the following eight identity crises. In other words, we all may have faced the following eight problems at different points of our lives; and based on our successes and failures, we all may be at different stages of the Identity Development.

Indeed, the previous faculty states that there is an objective better identity, via the integration of logic and intuition. But putting it all together today, we get to ask ourselves this fundamental question: at what logic and what intuitive feeling do we build our identities upon? We know that trust requires logic and intuition, and so is with the sense of Will, and Wisdom. In fact, all of the above requires some form of integration of logic and intuition in both materialistic and idealistic aspects (see Generativity and Ideology). But from the previous faculty of discussions we know that even logic and intuition, both material and ideal, are amoral and have their own strengths and weaknesses. And as much as having a moderation of logical thought and experiences that promotes Trust there is also a blend for Mistrust. The same applies to the other stages.

This is of course, only valid when we assume a Metaphysical Objectivism to the concepts of ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

If we were to summarize the above eight stages into two broad and distinct categories, we find out that our identities are actually definable as the level of awareness, and commitment of us towards ‘ourselves’. As succinctly stated:
An individual's sense of identity is determined in large part by the explorations and commitments that he or she makes regarding certain personal and social traits. It follows that the core of the research in this paradigm investigates the degrees to which a person has made certain explorations, and the degree to which he or she displays a commitment to those explorations.

A person may display either relative weakness or relative strength in terms of both exploration and commitments. When assigned categories, four possible permutations result: identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, and identity achievement. Diffusion is when a person lacks both exploration in life and interest in committing even to those unchosen roles that he or she occupies. Foreclosure is when a person has not chosen extensively in the past, but seems willing to commit to some relevant values, goals, or roles in the future. Moratorium is when a person displays a kind of flightiness, ready to make choices but unable to commit to them. Finally, achievement is when a person makes identity choices and commits to them.

This is represented in James Marcia paradigm of Erikson’s work in the field of identity.

The central idea of every self-help book lies in the question if we are aware of our current selves and the perpetual better that we all may be. Indeed, through the previous posts on the identity, we have discusses (and seen) the different components that make up our identity. We have understood what we can and cannot change of ourselves. We get to know more about our conscious selves, and on how it could be made better. Finally, we get to understand that what affects our conscious identity- not only by the moderation of the four (see MBTI), but also by the objective quality of these fundamentals.

Of course we round up this topic of personal identity on the quote that we cannot change each other overnight, and from here I reiterate that I do not intend to change any of our current identities with whatever I have spoken insofar. After all, I can never fully understand the extent of your full identities (see metaphysical intuition); moreover, I do not have a right of judgment (see subjectivism) since I too am in search of my personal identity. In the next post, I will be covering a little on social identity and how society affects our sense of being; but meanwhile- I hope that with at least a basic knowledge of ourselves we can begin to grasp at this infinitely complex concept of living the ‘living best’.