Are "You" Your Beliefs?

The tragic violent event that took place in Arizona yesterday, causes me to reflect on identity and identification and specific beliefs structures. For many of us, our identity is who we are and is taken completely for granted. If this statement makes you stop and think of what else an identity could be other than "who" we are, maybe you have taken it for granted. Within anthropology the studying of identity is a fascinating and challenging perspective. One basic anthropological concept is in order here - our identities are the result of social agreements. That is, an individual cannot choose to be someone that no one else recognizes. We are who we say and think we are because of those around us. If this is challenging your version of reality and how you fit within it, good, because that is my intention.

When we couple the phenomenon of social identity and the individual's identification with a particular identity, with the role of separate realities, we start to appreciate an aspect of societal dynamics that are extremely complex. The danger that I see in not realizing the nature of identity is that when we get fully identified with a set of companion ideologies, we become delusional. In my opinion, the single biggest threat to any society is the intolerance of bigotry, especially when it spreads to the masses - the tyranny of the majority. The threat that this type of intolerance presents to the stability of a just society, should not be underestimated. Especially when the intolerance is being wielded by those that believe that they have a monopoly and sole source to the "truth." Anyone that believes that they are in possession of the truth, rather than in the pursuit of the truth, is nothing more than a delusional fool. We all have the right to be a fool, but in the age of atomic weapons and high tech personal firearms, this right becomes extremely dangerous to our survival.

I ask you this - can you separate yourself from your beliefs? Have we become so identified with our social identities that we are blinded by the belief systems that are ingrained within them?