IM-PACT!!

We as human beings have made our identities very fragile by integrating our identity to things other than our real self. Now defining real self exactly is a subject matter of pure philosophy so i wont go there, but i am sure intuitively we know what I am talking about...

So what is the most fragile thing???

Well they could be many, but to my mind comes one thing which is not only fragile but highly vulnerable to disagreements, or sometimes even attacks in rare situations. This means that if we integrate our identity with this particular thing only then obviously we would be in a situation where we would feel that its our identity with which people are disagreeing and its our identity which is being attacked sometimes.

I am talking about the word 'OPINIONS'

Everyone has thoughts and opinions about everything. Sometimes we become so opinionated that we become our opinions. In other words we narrow down our identity to one thing called opinion. And then we guard that opinion of ours against all others. We guard it with our blood, life , and soul, because we have narrowed down our identity to simply our opinion, and to safeguard our identity we'll do anything.

Consider the following example which is in a very macro sense.

Religion. Some people start living in a fallacy that their's is the only religion and their's is the only God. They start having this opinion obviously and so even if someone talks about being an atheist or an agnostic from their religion, the 'keepers of the religion' would rather eliminate such people. (Pakistan, Afghanistan have a death penalty for practising atheism)

Why would this happen at all??? I think again it happens for the same reason. These few people of the religion have integrated their identity with their dear opinion about the greatness of their religion. (I am not doubting the greatness of any religion. I am just talking from their perspective). The identity has been integrated so much so that they would be offended even if someone practises atheism. They feel that by disagreeing and by not practising a religion, atheists have attacked the very identity of the keepers of the religion.

Forget about religions. Relationships fall apart due to the differences of opinion. The girlfriend gives one opinion and the boyfriend disagrees for his own reasons and the girl wont appreciate it much. Whats the big deal?? The guy never disagreed with the girl or with her identity. He only disagreed with the girl's particular opinion. And the girl would make all stories in her head, feel bad, offended, and what not as if the guy has attacked her very identity.. Again this happened because here the girl's identity is same as her opinion, which is vulnerable to disagreements, and sometimes even attacks.

(Girls reading this, dont get offended. I had to take an example so i did. This can be with boys also.)

Having opinions is not bad. Because its through them that we set our principles in life and decide whats right and wrong. But then Identity should not be brought down to the level of an opinion. Though undoubtedly an opinion comes from the identity, but it should be kept apart. Otherwise disagreements will continue, relationships will fall apart, wars will take place, tolerance level will diminish, etc etc.