TOPIC

Identity



One of the biggest questions we ever face is one we ask ourselves: “Who am I?” Our answer to this is what makes up our identity. How we choose to label ourselves is a story we tell to ourselves and each other about our priorities, values, and self-worth. However, many common ways we define our identity—whether by relationships, accomplishments, or worldview—can change suddenly, which can lead to an identity crisis: an intense emotional period of feeling lost, unsure, and ungrounded. We also face constant tension between how we choose to define ourselves and how the labels of others define us. The process of confronting assumptions about our identity within ourselves is often called self-discovery.

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Identity

Identity encompasses the memories, experiences, relationships, and values that create one’s sense of self.

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FindCenterThere is no choice more intensely personal, after all, than whom you choose to marry; that choice tells us, to a large extent, who you are.

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08:14

The Power of Identity

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The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

At the root of human conflict is our fundamental misunderstanding of who we are.

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09:36

Who Are You . . . Really?

The purpose of this video is to relay the most sublime teaching of Sunyata—silence beyond any idea of silence, peace beyond any idea of peace, love beyond any idea of love, and the vast emptiness of the omniscience that defies description (gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā).

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FindCenterYou make some big grandoise decision about what you need to do, or who you need to be, and then circumstances arise that immediately reveal to you how little you understood about yourself.

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Black Skin, White Masks

Few modern voices have had as profound an impact on the black identity and critical race theory as Frantz Fanon, and Black Skin, White Masks represents some of his most important work.

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23:28

Love, No Matter What | Andrew Solomon

What is it like to raise a child who’s different from you in some fundamental way (like a prodigy, or a differently abled kid, or a criminal)? In this quietly moving talk, writer Andrew Solomon shares what he learned from talking to dozens of parents—asking them: What’s the line between...

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08:33

Personal Identity: Crash Course Philosophy #19

Today Hank is building on last week’s exploration of identity to focus on personal identity. Does it in reside in your body? Is it in the collective memories of your consciousness? There are, of course, strengths and weaknesses to both of these ideas, and that’s what we’re talking about today.

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FindCenterYou don’t necessarily have to write to be a poet. Some people work in gas stations and they’re poets. I don’t call myself a poet, because I don’t like the word. I’m a trapeze artist.

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