Identity, Authenticity - Do they conflict?

[Nat]

"I hit the wall of realizing my entire identity was based on having these kinds of discussions and I couldn't imagine myself outside of those discussions. So I started to recognize I was using those discussions as an identity, as a way to avoid having to become an authentic person. I thought, "well that's not good."

Eventually, as a part of a spiritual path, one of my teachers said to me, "The mind is vast. It is like the vast sky, and every idea that we have is like one single star in the sky of our minds." And every idea we have about race and gender - those are just one star in the vast sky of our mind. And when you start to look at ideas that way, you start to see ideas as tiny stars in the vast space of your mind, even if they feel like they are right here, like they are everything. But they're not. It's an illusion."

- Rebecca Walker

DePaul University Cultural Center's Panel Discussion (iTunes U), "What Multiracial Women Bring to the Table"

I want to talk about identity. I've been wanting to talk about it for a while now. I suppose for some time now, I've had an internal debate going about what identity is and what its role is in a human life.

I chose the above quote to start this discussion because it contains within it a small definition of identity which I had not heard: *

identity: a way to avoid having to become an authentic person

I identify as a lot of different stuff. This definition interests me, because I hadn't heard it put that way before, though I did feel a great deal of pressure to identify when I first came out.

So I have some questions floating around and I'd love to hear other people's takes on these:

Do you feel the identity or identities you carry are barriers to authenticity or do you think of them as means of expressing your authenticity?

Or, to put it another way, what do you feel the relationship is between identity and authenticity? *

Do you feel like identity unites or divides or both or neither?

What does identity offer you?

What does it take from you?

Do you see your identity as flexible?

Have you felt pressure to identify?

I have so many mixed feelings at the moment, but do feel some division between my identity and my most authentic self - but I feel like my most authentic self is the person in charge of my identity if that makes sense. I feel like here in this community, I bring both my identity and my authenticity, but then if I hung out with you, you might get a different and equally authentic experience.

For an identity-positive quote, I'll cite the Dead Poets chop-up of Walt Whitman:

O Me! O Life!
O the endless trains of the faithless!
O cities filled with the foolish!
What good amid these?
O Me! O Life!

The answer:
That life exists
and identity.
The powerful play goes on
and you may contribute a verse

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