Identification

We are engulfed by our activities. Our attention is completely taken by whatever we are currently doing, moving automatically from one activity to the next, with only rare moments of self-awareness. We get the feeling of being adrift, pulled along by the current of life. At times, we may feel a need to stop and “catch our breath”, so we can receive an impression of ourselves and our situation. But this effort usually lasts for just a brief while, until we are again caught up by the next activity.

The Gurdjieff teaching uses the word “identification” to describe the loss of self-awareness in the midst of activity. To identify with an activity means to give all of our attention to it. Living a life trapped by identification, we lose the sense of who we really are.

One way to struggle with identification is to split our attention, attending both to the activity and to our doing the activity. For example, while reading this paragraph, try to also be aware that you are reading it. You may discover that this effort is difficult to maintain, but such efforts give us valuable impressions of who we are.

In this meeting, we will discuss the problem of identification — its strong pull, its pervasiveness in our life, and how it keeps us from fully participating in our life. We then consider the possibility of splitting our attention, and how self-observation and sensation of the body can help us become more grounded.