Because it cannot be said enough – You are not your fucking khakis.
You are not your religion, the stuff you buy, nor are you defined by the place you live. You do not owe old men in costumes anything because of the identity you assume or the identity they impose on you, and you most certainly do not owe them your life fighting for their selfish causes. Your self created identity doesn’t serve you or those you love.
The map is not the territory. Our definitions of ourselves is the map, but we as people are the territory. Much like you may see a map and notice mountains and beaches exist, but the experience of the mountains or beaches is entirely different from merely seeing they exist on a map as things we call “mountains”, “beaches”.
Attachments to definitions – political affiliations, religions, nationalities, race, sexual preference, gender, career, cultural things e.g. redneck, hipster, gamer, jock, biker, soccer mom, captain of industry – don’t create who we are, in fact they do something quite insidious, they limit who we can be. They are ego driven distinctions that divide us, give us myopia, and make us poor critical thinkers, which inevitably also entails groupthink and a dismissal of nuance. Once part of a collective you no longer see humanity or are seen as humanity, just the things humanity thinks it is, and we can do horrific terrifying things to things.
In prison they try to forcefully remove self created identity while simultaneously removing dignity, and replacing your identity with their own – prisoner. Keep your dignity, and instead choose to abandon identity entirely. Upon abandoning your social crutch, rather than finding imprisonment, you will find liberty.
