Unexpected Freedom

A Question of IdentityOne should not be considered worthy of respectbecause of family or background or any outer sign;it is purity and the realisation of truththat determine one’s worth.Dhammapada verse 393I’m told that this evening one third of the world’s populationwill be watching the World Cup football final between Franceand Brazil on television. This means billions of people! Whatis it that attracts so much interest? This is a relevant questionfor us to contemplate.On this particular evening the perception of oneself asbeing French is charged with emotion. The newspapers arereporting that the cup final has triggered national pride unseenin France since the time of the Revolution in 1789. What is atstake is personal and national identity – the wholebody/mind experience of being a substantial somebody.All of us find our own ways of generating that feeling thatwe could call ‘somebodihood’. Identifying with ournationality, be it French, British, Brazilian, New Zealander orBurmese, is one of those ways. We also identify with ourgender, in being a man or a woman, and with our religion,with being Buddhist or Christian or Jewish, and so on. Andgenerating the feeling of identity is okay up to a certainpoint, if we are careful.141