Our Identity is Who We Are

This statement is clear enough, but has HUGE ramifications. People have to fit into with the world they live in. What they can be, is almost anything - but what they are allowed to be, is much less.

In the Medieval World, for example, everyone knew his place in the Great Chain of Being. And that place (his identity) did not change much for a thousand years. The identity you were born with, was the identity you died with. There were some changes, but these were few, and gradual.

This changed with the Reformation - that introduced big changes, and violent warfare. The Scientific Revolution reduced this warfare, and made Progress possible. Note that one word - Progress - a new idea that had not existed before.

The societies that were Progressive (that could change rapidly) became Affluent - something also entirely new.

At the Present Time, society (or more correctly, the huge number of societies) are changing rapidly, and people have to change constantly, to keep up with these changes.

This, in itself, would not be an impossible problem - if people were aware of it, could discuss these demands freely, and chose which ones they wanted. This was one of the assumptions of the Enlightenment.

But the Enlightenment failed, over and over - because it did not understand how people really are. People must have a fixed identity, and not a changeable one.

This identity is built into their collective unconscious - and is almost impossible to change. Any successful leader understands this identity, and helps his followers be this way.

I will use an example from my family's religion - Mormonism. Early in the 19th Century, Joseph Smith, wrote a book, that he called, the Book of Mormon. To his amazement, people immediately saw it was of Divine origin, and that he was a Prophet of God. And they still believe this, to this day.

What is important to note here, was the motivation of the people who became Mormons. What kind of people were they? This is a complicated question, and few have attempted it. But it seems to me, their timing was important - at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

They were part of the reaction to this - part of the Second Great Awakening. A huge event, that shaped what Americans would become.