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Identity and Transcendence

Who does not know what identity is? It has become the motto and emblem of our era, the dominant cultural theme. Whatever "it" is, it is desperately sought, ecstatically asserted, often defiantly exhibited. It is both deeply personal and openly public. While we might studiously trace its genealogy to clinical papers by Erik Erikson in the 1940s, this would not bring us close to its current usage, despite the fact that cultists of identity deftly cite Erikson chapter and verse to gain legitimacy. It is my contention that the abundant analyses and confessionals on identity will likewise not bring us close to its elusive nature, since they are expressions of the very problem that needs elucidation. That is, the nature of identity is presupposed. Very simply, identity is assumed to be contained in the ritualized answer to the question "who am I?" Personal continuity of meaning and relationship is no longer taken for granted but demanded through heightened self-consciousness. A cluster of related terms constitutes the core of an invariant, stereotypic answer to the question of who-ness: roots, self-esteem, belonging, attachment, community, authenticity, order, simplicity, restoration, security, safety, innocence, purity, expiation, boundaries, naturalness, certainty. Moreover, this cluster is called into service by such diverse claimants to identity as ethnicity, religion, race, polity, region, sex, age, social class, American nativism. But neither set of terms is explanatory. By attempting to locate them within the cultural system of contemporary America, we may uncover their meaning. To do this it is necessary to ask, how are they systematically related to one another? What deeper meanings do they both symbolize and obscure? We may thereby begin to understand why, of all questions that might be asked, "who am I?" is the one so unceasingly posed. Identity consciousness is an attempt to close the abyss of self-doubt and confusion. This state of mind has come to characterize the culture itself.