On Indentities: I

For a while I have been thinking of identities, especially those faith-based and national. I read a lot about "artificial identities," multiple identities, formation of identities and the fundamental need for identities.

Here I wish to gradually explore the formation and nature of a few different kind of identities and how they operate in "real life"...

One of the thoughts that occurred to me today was that of individual and group identities. Many of us have individual identities -- Are you a Christian? Are you a Hindu? Are you a Red Sox fan? we are often asked -- and almost by that virtue we have a larger, group identity. Or is it the other way around? Be that as it may, it is this group identity which is fascinating because it is at the root of a group consciousness and group action. We start feeling part of a group. The joys and agonies of the group, past, present and future suddenly become our own.

Such an identity also is non-locational and non-specific, almost an amorphous, impersonal thing. What happened to a part of the larger group in some geographical and historical location removed from our present location suddenly becomes our individual concern.