2020 And The Crushing of Our False Identity

    
 

The last year has been hard on many of us. It's safe to say it has effected each and every one of our lives in one way or another. Today I wanted to particularly write about how has 2020 affected our identities. One of the things that has made me really sad and frustrated in 2020 is to see how badly small business owners and freelancers in particular have been supported by our goverments during covid times. It is heartbreaking to see many of them have to close shop and erase all of their hard work without having any guarantee for the future and very little help from the government to survive this situation. Many of the measures that have been taken against covid have been very illogical and questionable and my full viewpoint on that can be found on my previous post. 

As someone who is very interested in spiritual and metaphysical matters, this global crisis has led me to  think about the whole matter from a different kind of perspective as well. In my previous post I talked about this a little, but I wanted to write about this a bit more, especially regarding our identity and how it's very much been shaken up in 2020 and 2021. And once again, this is not a religious point of view because if we attach ourselves to a religion, we are just creating another identity for ourselves. So, let's say you have been a performer all your life and your whole life you have been going on gigs every week to gain your income. Now, when 2020 hit, all of that stopped, and for many it has been on hault for a full year now. Now it is not only a global crisis you are dealing with, but a very deep personal crisis as well. You are suddenly dealing with not having enough money for bills, not having that creative outlet that was a huge source for wellbeing, not having social interaction whether it's with bandmates or the audience, and this is essential for many lifelong performers. This is the kind of personal crisis that will flip your whole life upside down. There are many who are (rightfully) protesting this and demanding justice from the government for all of these reasons and many more. And so far, there has been no response. 

How do we stay sane then when your whole life is breaking into pieces? The reason why I mention words like identity and spirituality, is because I personally believe there is something very profound here. For one second let's take away our anger and frustration towards the authorities and the government, and even this whole situation and virus, and imagine we have absolutely no one to blame for what is happening. Our life is shaken up to the core and our career and savings are gone (for now.) What do we do? Psychology teaches us that crisis' are the turning points in our lives whether we like it or not. Nearly always they change and shift something inside of us. They teach us lessons that we did not ask to learn. And so we are presented with big questions like "who am I without this job or career?"Or "how will I and my family survive without my income?" Or "How will others accept me if I don't have what I used to have?" Believe it or not, these are the kind of questions that have the ability to bring us closer to our true selves, and they can be our best teachers. If we are struggling to pay our bills or even have fallen into depression, it can feel impossible to think about "what is this trying to teach me?" It's probably the last thing on your mind. But if you can find that one moment where you can pause, let go of that control and really think of that question, it could be the question that changes your life. And I'm not going to say it's easy and fun, because a lot of the times it sure as hell isn't. It can be scary and painful. But the good thing about crisis' is that you're already scared and in pain, so why not really put ourselves to work and grow from the experience? 

Spirituality teaches us to strip away layers that have been put upon us by ourselves or by society. Around the age of three we start building an identity when we begin to form a sense of self. From this point on year by year we start identifying more and more with things like our age, gender, nationality, memories and experiences, strengths and weaknesses and later with our career or degrees, socialeconomic status, religion and political views for example. These labels give us direction, value and attributes that help us define ourselves in a chaotic world. Without them we feel lost, vulnerable, and often worthless. However, the tricky thing about these identities and lables is that they are very conditional. If we build our whole identity based on a career, social status or physical attribute for example, what happens when there is a crisis like a pandemic, a natural disaster, an accident or a life threatening illness that forces us to let go of that identity? We will be kicking and screaming or completely paralyzed with fear and depression. Life is always transient and that means everything in life is always transient. So the question is, what is it that remains after every single one of these external layers has been taken off? Does it make you less whole or does it in fact have the ability to bring you back to your most truest "whole self"? 

In a world that is in crisis we are forced to be creative and adaptable. And what is being creative and adaptable if not letting go of old ways of thinking? At their best those skills can help us let go of all of those old conditions that we have once agreed upon, because we thought they were necessary for our happiness. For example, you may have thought "I need to have this job and make x amount of money so I can pay my bills, do this this and this and be happy." That's great but that is also extremely conditional. If we are looking for true happiness and fulfillment we could start saying this instead: "I welcome any experience life gives me and trust that the universe will always provide for me." We should never limit ourselves and our lives by believing everything must always stay the same. Instead we can practise being grateful when things are easy and flowing, but also practise making that happiness and gratitude a constant state of mind and not a product of external occurrences. And this way, even when a part of our identity gets chopped off, we will not give it as much weight. At that point, we learn to go with the flow of life and even take those moments as an opportunity. We were not born with an identity and we will not leave this world with one. Maybe this is the time to go within, maybe it's the time to be there for someone we love. This could be a moment for us to slow down and trust, or it could be a time to try something completely new. If we keep screaming no no no, life will say yes yes yes. But if we are able to shrug and say "why not", we will be given the tools to move through life with ease and maybe even discover things we had never even dreamed of.

Despite this post being mainly about professionals and people who have lost work during 2020 and 2021, I want to clarify that these questions apply to all of us, especially at this time. And what better time to go within, than right now when we are all cooped up in our homes and possibly unable to go anywhere else besides the grocery store? As much as I disagree with the measures that have been taken by our governments with this virus, I do believe there is great potential for spiritual and personal growth for all of humanity during these tough times. So often we want to move ahead full speed at all times to feel like we are making progress. And in 2020 the world said no. For the first time in a long time, many of us were forced to stop and face our lives and ourselves without the constant rushing from one place to another. For some, it was the best year in a long time where they felt true peace, happiness and getting back to your roots.  I was lucky to be in that crowd. But I know for many, it was a tragedy and learning a complete new way of being, functioning, and living. 

I have said it before and I will say it again. 2020 was the beginning of a global awakening, but it is up to us to use this opportunity and do the work. It is up to us to choose what kind of future we want to create on this planet. People want so deeply to go back to normal but the truth is that we are shifting and the normal will be different from now on. The growing pains are bad and we are all feeling it. I do believe the world will eventually be much more beautiful than it has been in a long long time. But just as we need to individually peel off those external layers of our false identity, we need to do the same on a global scale, and that is all happening on our planet right now. And the process is not suddle. But instead of screaming no no no, we need to trust the process and let go of the control and fear. All the darkness and false control that is happening on our planet right now, cannot last once people have awakened. But we do need to become aware of it in order to shift it, just as we need to become aware of our own shadows and the false self. And as we break free from our own illusionary identities, we will also break free from the illusionary control system that has governed this world up until now.

There is hope. And there is always a choice. 

I hope you have enjoyed this viewpoint and that it inspires you to do some deep diving as well. :) 

Until next time..