The Evaporation of Identity
From the time we were born,
we were labeled with what we appeared to be
Or by what we ostensibly represented –
A native of ‘this’ country or of ‘that’ state.
Either members of a religious order or of a laic group
Belonging to a high caste or a low caste.
We spoke ‘this’ language or ‘that’ dialect
We were a wealthy family
Or we belonged to the working class
Either sophisticated or rustic in temper.
Each of these identities became our trademark.
Creating an identity of our own
based on our body form also came easy to us.
If that wasn’t appealing enough we identified
ourselves by the measures of our mind,
Intelligence, intellect, and the arrogance that follows.
If we were part of the privileged few,
We flaunted our identity through power, and might
If we were part of a minority or the disadvantaged
We flaunted our victimhood instead.
From times eon we were distinguished by form.
Forms that defined us, not innately but by association
Forms that illustrated our features distinctively
Forms that made us proud of what ‘we were.’
As we got older our forms became further cemented
by our behavior, our attitude, our mannerism
Forms that gave us a manufactured distinctiveness
Of whom we ‘were’ and whom we ‘were not’
We articulated our encrypted form with force.
and ‘valor’ oblivious of what ‘truly is’.
Sooner or much later we discover our form.
to reflect our egoic nature.
Or just a mirage in the desert of a deluded self
Building castles in the quicksand of desire
and false perpetuity, despite the inevitable transience.
Misguided notions of ‘oneself’ keeps our mind.
active in pursuit of an identity that hardly exist.
An identity that belie who we truly are.
The form identity of illusion notwithstanding,
Flourishing midst its stubborn persistence,
there are yet other formless states of reality.
And that is our blemish less essence.
Essence that is equated with ‘Being’
Being that denotes transcendence.
One that is at par with awareness,
Awareness that goes beyond the physical and the mental,
Awareness that is above body and the mind,
Awareness permeating the very universe.
Once we become aware, our essence becomes our identity.
In it there is no competition, no heights to scale,
There is no superior, or inferior,
nor a wailing victim, nor a howling victimizer.
Only compassion and unity
Our essence is beyond an identity,
Indeed, it’s the evaporation of identity.
The true meaning of essence is 'being. '
And this ‘being’ resides in ‘silence’.
But in the real world that we live in,
form identity is unlikely to evaporate,
but it can be dimmed and diminished,
By consciously letting our essence govern our being.
Our essence negates the false self of beauty, power, and glory
Thus, letting the true self emerge in its wake.
The Self that touches the Supreme, and is devoid of a self-identity,
Being free of form identity, lets a journey into silence begin.
Ajmal Sobhan
January 2024
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