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Identity and Belonging — New Pathways
Emanations of the Philosophy of Life Instinct
If you ask me who I am, I think of this more or less sequentially: I am an Indian, male, Hindu, vegetarian, Brahmin, mechanical engineer, Kannadiga, IBMer, enterprise architect, and writer.
The pride or otherwise in each and what I may bring up at a particular time is quite another matter.
Notice how who I am is all about classification or typing. It comes so naturally to identify ourselves as belonging to particular affiliations, the most common being country, gender, race, faith, qualification, language, company, and position.
I also identify in a few secondary types: atheist, secularist, family man, Indian-Australian dual citizen, half Deshastha-Marathi, poet, philosopher, book lover, and art and music aficionado. The strength of my secondary identities is lower.
That's nineteen categories by which I define myself! And I could add a few more.
Can we define ourselves without this 'typing'? No way, Jose. Just think about it. How could we? Can I say, 'I am a blob of life'? What use is it except to differentiate me from inert matter, and for whom?
