Transcendent Identity

The concept considered here is the creation of a Transcendental Identity, while at the same time retaining the Ego; where Ego is like one's opinion of one's looks or physical and bodily attributes, and also one's Identities, that are like the Identity of father or mother, and at the same time the Identity of some profession or career and an unpaid position in a church.

The concept of the Transcendent Identity is to create an idea, concept and perspective of oneself and the world, outside and independent of one's already existing Ego and Identities. This concept and perspective is called 'Context for Interpretation' and means those specific memories that one associates, with any given instance of present circumstance or thought, like one may associate war with high ideals of freedom, patriotism, bravery, or with murder, mayhem and death, depending on one's individual Context for Interpretation.

The traditional belief or interpretation, in so far as Buddhism is concerned, would seem that one should destroy the Ego, as a vehicle of spiritual development. Destruction of the Ego is generally taken to mean a purge of one's attachments to the physical things and affairs of the world, which in a spiritual sense are considered transitory, mundane, unimportant, disappointing and disillusioning, and to cause pain and suffering. The idea is to reach a state of detachment, in which one is not Ego involved, or attached to the affairs of the world. There have been many opinions as to whether to destroy the Ego or to transcend it. This is an argument to keep the Ego and Identities, but to create a Transcendent Identity, as an addition to the Ego and whatever Identities one may possess.

However there is a relationship between the Transcendent Identity and Ego and one's already existing Ego and Identities, each affecting the others.

The concept presented here is comprised primarily of four elements:

a. An entity that thinks that is called the 'Thinker'.

b .A concept of a 'Context for Interpretation', as individual perspective of what is perceived.

c. The Ego as Context for Interpretation, which is individual and singular perspective based on the inherent content of the physical body.

d. The Identities which are also a Context for Interpretation, of which any number can be created by the mind and where in this theory, most people possess any number of Identities.

a. The thinker is considered an independent agent, independent of both the Ego and Identities, and all Contexts for Interpretation. People can change their minds about anything, think they would never for instance, ever fall in love with a particular person on one day, and change to head over heals in love on the next.

The thinker is considered independent of all thought and value systems, mental constructs, emotional make-up or moral codes, and independent of the Ego and Identities. The Thinker is considered to make decisions through Contexts for Interpretation, but also is independent of them.

b. The Context for Interpretation represents everything sensed or thought by the individual, that is stored and categorized in the memory, and that concerns specifically how the individual interprets reality. Interpretive Contexts are categorizations of information relevant to specific subjects, like history, biology, sex, hobbies, or food. For instance if one encounters a mushroom in the woods, one interprets relative to the information stored in that category, such as may relate to a book of fairy tales or to poisonous plants. The Ego and any Identities are considered as Interpretive Contexts.

c. The Ego is defined here as a Context of Interpretation. The Ego is considered as all things related to and manifested as the physical body, the sensory system, urges for food or sex, feelings, place in space, real sensory experience, the actual sensory world and also thought, which replicates the sensory experience. The individual is said to have one single Ego, which corresponds to one single body. For instance one's sex as a male or female, which is inherent to body chemistry, and would comprise a Context for Interpretation that would be considered as the Ego.

d. The Identities are defined as a multiplicity of Contexts for Interpretation. Identity is usually thought to be singular, like banker, butcher, actor or jewel thief. However Identities are described here as the categorizations of memories, that one uses in specific instances, such as rules for one's driving Identity, one's social Identity, family name, one's work Identity, religious and political affiliations. The Identity can be pure fantasy, as one may believe themselves to be more important than they are, such as one believing themselves to be talented, without any actual evidence whatever.

THE EGO:

The Ego is defined as a Context for Interpretation and is considered independent and separate from the Identities. The Ego is those categorized associations that are relevant to the individual's inherent and developed physical make-up, and the mental associations that derive therefrom.

These associative characteristics are such things as sensations, feelings, place in space, real sensory experience, the actual sensory world, and thought that replicates the same. The Ego is the Context for Interpretation and frame of reference, of which the Thinker refers in making most decisions concerning immediate circumstance or present experience. For instance the Thinker will refer to its bodies tolerance for weather conditions, when deciding how to dress for an outing.

While the Thinker is agnostic and really doesn't need to believe in anything, the Ego is the believer, and because of the pleasure/pain complex, must maintain a state of belief, that keeps the body in a condition of health and safety.

THE IDENTITIES:

The Identities are defined as Contexts for Interpretation which are created by the Thinker, and are considered independent and separate from the Ego. While the Ego is singular as one body, the Thinker can create any number of Identities it wishes, and can keep track of. This means to think in terms of specific context, like from the point of view of a fisherman, corn farmer, poet or musician, responsible property owner or thief. It is possible, although not necessarily easy, to change one's Identities at will, such as an actor changing parts.

Both the Ego and Identities are created by the mind or Thinker, as categorized associations, that reference specific criterion, as specifically everything to do with the physical body, and everything to do with how one defines themselves, or rules by which they live, like always be honest, never be late, always be polite or drive safely. The Ego and Identities are usually confused, people not being able to tell one from the others. One's pride in their job Identity may be confused with a big Ego.

TRANSCENDENT IDENTITY

Of the many Identities an individual may have, a spiritual and religious Identity is usually adopted from one's family or culture like Christian, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Mormon, Buddhist or Taoist.

A Transcendent Identity is defined as created by the Thinker, independent of the Ego and all other Identities. This is specifically for the purpose of creating a Context for Interpretation, from the perspective of non-physical or spiritual being.

This means a perspective that is outside the self, like looking at one's body in action from outside itself, as an observer without the physical, emotional, intellectual, psychological and personality considerations. This might be like a historian, who views the present the way one would view a past historical period, without the accordant space and time attachment.

To begin the Transcendent Identity should be empty, an idea of some kind of character to be filled in later. New characters or Identities can be created in any number of ways. One may simply get a new job as say a police officer and start acting in a new role. However a Transcendent Identity should represent a Context for Interpretation, independent of the Ego and all of one's other already existing Identities.

RELATIONSHIPS

The actual underlying dynamics of the human psychology and personality could be described as the make-up of the interaction between the Ego and Identities. For instance if the Ego, as the personality of the body, might be very physical and athletic, when one's primary Identity is that of a writer, and the two might be in conflict. Since the Ego is singular, and the Identities are multiple, there may not be accordant correspondence for such, as when one's Ego is male and sexual Identity is female, or vice versa. Other discordances may be like a parents expectations, put on a child in the form of some kind of Identity like doctor or lawyer, but the child has a gift for music, an Ego potential and would rather be a rock and roll star.

By use of the Transcendent Identity to get outside oneself, one might attempt to identify and recognize one's various Identities and separate them from the Ego. One may attempt to discover the nature and character of the Ego, independent of one's various Identities.

Rather than creating an Identity that is modeled on existing characters, such as to think and act like one's role model, one might instead want to create a Symbolic Identity. This means an Identity with no specific attributes, but rather like a character actor that is ready to take on various roles.

The Transcendent Identity does not become invested or attached to any of the roles of the Ego or other Identities, but stands outside them. In this case the individual has the choice to make the Transcendent Identity the primary. This would mean as the Buddhists suggest, a destruction of the Ego or attachment to all things material. Or the individual may create a separate unattached Identity, while keeping one's Ego and already existing Identities in tact.

The Transcendent Identity means that one creates one or any number of perspectives, other than what one already possesses. These can be various character roles and positions of decision-making that equate to, 'as if I was that', or 'if I was them, I would think like them'.

But ultimately the Transcendent Identity represents one character that is mind alone, the Thinker. This is an Identity transcended from one's Ego and all other Identities, and from one's body, sexual orientation, emotions, value, moral and judgmental systems. It is the unattached Identity of the Buddhists while retaining one's former self.

This Identity is objective and unattached, and should develop the ability to differentiate between the existing Ego and all other Identities, and to choose one's degree of involvement with each of them. By this independence and uninvolved detached perspective, one might gain the ability to evaluate and to distinguish between the Ego and Identities, to rid oneself of the discordances and create accordance, to eliminate one or all of one's Identities, to create new one's, and to create accordances between them. For instance if one has the Ego of a conservative, meaning doesn't particularly like change on an emotional level, and an Identity of a progressive, meaning one thinks one should like change, there will be a conflict.

The Transcendent Identity may act as a token to a higher non-physical self usually described as spirit. Assuming such a spirit, and assuming it is outside oneself or other dimensional, the Transcendent Identity might ask questions. Questions act as Context for Interpretation. One might consider allowing the assumed spirit to answer or comment upon them. The most objective way to do this, might not be from one's own mind and Thinker, which can only define what it already knows, but perhaps to assume that one's higher spirit can manipulate one's outer reality, or correlate one's interactions with external and real circumstance and events, such that one may experience elements and answers to one's questions. This is usually called synchronicity.