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Identification & Interpretation (05/27/2020)

People often become the things with which they most deeply identify, interpreting them as an extension of themselves, as an aspect of their own identity.

For example, sometimes people identify so strongly with an idea that if anyone or anything is to challenge that idea it is interpreted as a personal attack.

This can become so extreme that some are willing to live and die over ideas alone.

If such an idea seems like it leads towards an altruistic aim, then others might consider it noble, a mark of dedication, of integrity. However, if that same behavior was applied to something seen as selfish, then that person would probably be considered a tyrant.

Notice that within the above paragraphs we have not spoken of the contents of any specific idea, just people's propensity to personally identify with things and to interpret the motives behind another's actions in their own way.

It is interesting how the things with which we identify most can tell us so much about ourselves, and yet at the same time, how little the actions of others can reveal what they may truly identify with.



Some music:
Louie Zong - Apples


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