The Problem of Identification

Imagine that you are pure intelligence, pure being, pure mind without a form. As you are Akasha, pure spirit in your nature, you can permeate all forms, all beings, all creatures on all planes of existence. You are the observer, like the Indian spiritual masters say. You can take part in all what is happening. You know the thoughts and feelings of all beings. You are omnipresent.

And now imagine that you as the universal unlimited spirit enter a specific living being, a mental body together with an astral body and a physical one. Suddenly you experience yourself in limitations, the limitations of a body. And you make the experience that there are other creatures which call you with a name and which treat you as an individual. You have own thoughts, own feelings, own needs and also own desires. Suddenly you are in existence. You are no longer beyond creation but now you are a part of it.

Step by step you get used to this new impression, these new experiences and you lose more and more your original perception of yourself as the universal unlimited being which you were. In fact you identify yourself more and more with your outer appearance, with the body you dwell in, with your personality, your thoughts, emotions, your behavior and with your social group.

And suddenly all kinds of strange ideas and feelings come up, things which you have not known so far. Fears of getting ill, fears of death, fears to get not what you desire. All kinds of fears are there. Fears, desires, needs. And you have an own ego. Maybe this ego has to fight with other egos.

And due to this identification process, you have lost your knowledge about the higher planes of existence, your knowledge about your true nature. You are convinced that you are this body, this personality. You believe that you die one day. You think that you are left alone in the material world. And you have forgotten about your nature as a creator. You forgot about your powers. And now you feel powerless, a victim of fate.

The more you incarnate, the more you identify yourself with all the characters you have played.

One day you are deeply entrapped in the world of matter and then your journey goes back to where you came from.

On the spiritual path, you discover more and more your true nature beyond all these identifications.

This journey from pure being and eternity to the world of matter, being a limited creature and then back to eternity offers most precious experiences. At first you experience pure perfection and then, through the process of identification and spiritual refinement later, you experience individual perfection, the perfect spirit in the perfect temple (body) in a world where you can take action as a god-master.

This identification as a limited creature without understanding your true nature is called Maya. Maya, the Indian Goddess protects the higher worlds from the material realm by her veils. Otherwise creation would not work. We need limitations to make certain experiences.

At last, – by the spiritual training we become able again to identify with other creatures, taking part in their thoughts and feelings, etc. Then we are free to identify with the Highest and the diversity of gods and goddesses.