It takes courage to really, really face and develop your identity. It takes courage to design an identity. It takes courage really do the work and figure out who you truly are.
The thing is identity is also something that you can hide behind. A performance of identity is something that you can put up for other people so that you can hide behind it. Identity can be your mask. It is a lack of courage to hide behind a performance of identity.
Your identity doesn’t have to be perfect. Your identity just has to be you. You need courage in order to face your true identity.
Are you courageous?
identitySPECIALIST 
Lem, would you expand on the second paragraph, particularly regarding how people can hide behind identity. Are you speaking of the identity of False Self, or true identity, or something else?
You close with, “Your identity just has to be you.” Is this where people can hide, in authenticity, or are your referring to something else?
Wow. Thank you so much for taking the time to read a post. I’m following your blog and I’m excited to learn from you.
Thank you for asking the question. I do think we can hide behind an identity. I am referring to our False self, our projected selves.
Our true identity – our true selves – that takes courage. It takes courage to ask the right questions and face our true selves.
I guess I didn’t do a great job explaining that. I definitely kept it short – on purpose. Just trying to work out an idea. Identity includes both our true self and our projected self. Living out the projected self or performance of self is the hiding.
I don’t use the False Self too often. I really only studied projected selves. In my concept – even the False Self comes from a true place; it comes from your thoughts and your heart. I see the False self as being just a slice of your true self. Even thought you play a part or perform an identity, you still need to come from a true place in order to do it.
Thanks again for the comment. Please respond to this and let me know what you think. Please teach me.
Hey Lem,
Thank you for the clarification-that makes sense. I honestly am not very well read on projected self. I understand it only at an elementary level.
You are correct about False Self. I like Brennan Manning’s take on it. In fact, Abba’s Child has a lot in common with our material for Fight Club in its different iterations. The latest is the Heroes & Heroines series starting in a few weeks at Calvary Church of Santa Ana.
In a nutshell, we are equating False Self with the Old Man, and True Identity with the New Man the Scriptures speak of. The trouble with church, in my experience, is that it tends to present this notion that when you “get saved,” the Old Man/False Self is magically done away with, ala, “old things are passed away and all things have become new.” 2 Cor 5:17. Eph 4:24 gives us the imperative, however, to take action and consciously put on the New Man.
False Self is where the barriers are, in the form of wounds, lies, vows, defense mechanisms, self-medications, and walls/facades, that keep us from intimacy with the Father and abiding in the Spirit. As God stirs within us, it often triggers an unexplainable discontent. This discontent often leads to despair, and it is our invitation into the Dark Night of the Soul, or something close to it. This is the threshold between spiritual adolescence and spiritual maturity, and He uses the discontent to woo us out of being ruled by our False Self.
A great part of abiding is the Father’s intent to reveal our True Identity to us. It seems to be a dance of sorts-for every step closer into Him, He reveals more of us. And despite our great fear that we will be lost-swallowed up by Him, the opposite is quite true. The more we sink into Him, the more He reveals our True Self, the authentic masterpiece He designed, and releases us into it.
I see I’ve written several paragraphs and didn’t intend to. I’ll end it here for now.
Is your teaching based on Identity? If so, that sounds really fascinating! That is one of my great passions for God’s children-to release them into their destiny!
Maybe we could meet up for coffee or a meal sometime and I could pick your brain!