As soon as we are born, we are given an identity. An identity according to the religion of the family, we are born in. A child of a Christian will be a Christian, Hindu’s child will be Hindu and this happens for all religions. As we grow up, we are made to learn the rituals of the clan, we are made part of. And the system continues with the coming generations, where the ones pass their own identification to their children.

Not only in terms of religions, now a days it is normal seeing people following a person. Even the well educated people, who tend to agree with the view points of a person just become his devotee. They say that they have taken a stand and feel that it is end of it. All the great leaders and thinkers have had such devotees or followers.

One of the observations is made by Krishnamurti, in one of his books. He has talked about a person, who termed himself as a “Krishnamurti-ite”.

From what he said, it appeared that the journey was over. He had taken a stand and that was the end of the matter; he had chosen, and nothing could shake him. He would now comfortably settle down and follow eagerly all that had been said and was going to be said.

– J. Krishnamurti, Commentaries on Living

The points he made seem pretty valid. Identification lays some ground rules, that limit one’s methodology. It limits the way of experiencing.

Identification is just a product of fear, a fear to be wrong. Due to this fear, we start following a person, who seems right or become a part of a community and pass that on to our coming generations. This fear needs to be resisted and overcome.

To gain an experience, we need to cease the identification. Otherwise, all our experiences will be guided by the laws we are bound in. Instead of our own viewpoint, we would have an experience that is filtered by the community guidelines.

But if we are free from all the restrictions, we can have our own takes on life, our own guidelines or at the best, an experience without any limitation. Such an experience gives us a lot to learn, innovate and explore about things.