What happens when our Identities are limited?

Hey, how have you been?

I’ve not written in the past two months. Was in Lagos for a few weeks after Ghana and then moved to Dubai about a month ago. It’s been a rollercoaster period and I’ve been too lazy to write. I expect to resume the usual cadence going forward though.

(Each weekend in Dubai has been incredible so far. I’ve met a new set of people each week and we then go on to have really great weekends exploring the city. One of my favourite weekends so far was with my friend Kenny who’s an artist (check out his song here), has a pure heart and one of the best vibes in the world)

I’m also excited about focusing the next phase of my letters on specifically exploring how we can live enhanced lives as humans while we’re on this earth.

I hope you’ve been okay and blissful. I wish you love in your heart, a smile on your face and gratitude in your mind. Stay Jiggy always.

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A child is born in a town on the coast of West Africa. He is born with dark skin in a piece of land that on the ‘global maps’ is marked as the country of Ghana. The parents of the child are in the middle-class and Christians. He grows up with an identity that he is Ghanaian, Christian, Black and a member of the middle class.

Another child is born in a town off the coast of Asia. She is born with brown skin in a piece of land that on the ‘global maps’ is marked as the country of India. The parents of the child are in the middle-class and Hindu. She grows up with an identity that she is Indian, Hindu, Brown and middle class.

Two life forces and souls. Born in a different part of the world. With different identities.

(Omar. One of my closest friends in town. He works in the pool bar at my hotel and is one of the kindest people in the world. Half of the people who come back to the hotel do so because of Omar)

Identities are an essential part of our world. The ability to classify and identify is one of the reasons we’re at the top of the food chain and the most evolved species on the planet. We need them to function as social beings.

We however make a crucial mistake. We assume these identities are absolute. That they are definitive and the ‘only truth’.

A Christian might exact prejudice against someone who doesn’t identify with his religion. Same for a Muslim or many other religions in the world. A white supremacist believes he is superior to people with different skin colours because he was brought up with that identity. Even within the same country, one tribe or caste or ethnic group believe they are superior to the other because of ‘identities’ passed across to them from previous generations.

Even the communities we belong to. Extremist football fans would go to crazy lengths against some that support a different team. People have fights based on the universities that they identify with.

These are all cases of limited identities.

(Selfie after a great night at Barasti. The most beautiful part of the night was when the dude on the right proposed to the lady in yellow. Everyone hyped them and it was so lovely)

A significant amount of the crime we have in the world is as a result of empowered limited identities. People act in negative ways to people that they feel do not belong to their ‘identity’.

Why? Because we have been trained to believe our identities are absolute. That they are the truth and the only truth that exists.

This shouldn’t be so. Very few things in this world are absolute. Gravity. Death. Life. Most of the other things are constructs that we have created or that were created long before we came on the surface of this earth.

It is important to fundamentally understand that our identities are not absolute. It is possible to have our identity and still appreciate the fact that it is not the ‘only truth’ and that it is possible that other ‘truths’ exist. Identities and truths are in many cases subjective.

We often underestimate how much of a role the geography and social class we’re born into influences our identities. Because of this, we often expect that someone else who has a different identity chose that identity and if we share our beliefs with them, it should be a no-brainer for them to accept them. But we don’t put ourselves in their shoes.

(The renaissance man, Sultan from Saudi. Met this good friend of mine at the pool bar and we had a great week. He taught me half of what I now know about the Middle East and Asia. A pure soul and curious human)

A human being is full of possibilities. That is why when we have a certain goal or aspiration and work hard to achieve it, we don’t stop. We come up with something else and strive for that. And so on and so forth. The human life force craves expression. Boundless expression. Our deepest inner self wants to explore all the world and life has to offer.

Limited identities don’t make this possible. They close us out from fully experiencing our life and in many cases, also form the bedrock of a lot of the evil acts that humans inflict in this world.

There’s an alternative. We can come to the understanding that it is possible to hold our beliefs/identities, agree that they are not absolutes and truly respect that people can have different identities but that doesn’t define who they are.

We can adopt a universal identity. Because that is what we truly are. We are global citizens of this planet. Beings of this universe. We exist because other people and things on this planet/universe exist. We exist as an extension of others and others exist as an extension of us.

A universal identity allows us to interact with each other with respect for each other’s identities. Our actions are geared toward the betterment of the people, living things and non-living things in the world. Because we would not exist without them.

Strive to attain a universal identity.

This letter was written while listening to a BharryJhay playlist.

This letter was inspired by this Sadhguru talk with Lewis Howes (from 1:25:00)

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In 100 years time, all of us will be top-soil. We are just a small pop-up in time. We think too much of ourselves - Sadhguru.

Love always.

Francis Sani.