Article November 19, 1938 Issue

Right Identification

HENDRIK J. DE LANGE

Although the average person may rarely think about identification, everybody appears to be identifying himself nearly all the time with one thing or another; and this goes on even when one is dreaming while asleep. In fact, human existence seems to be a continuous process of identification. Take, for instance, the simple act of looking in a mirror. One almost invariably identifies himself with the pictured reflection. Such has been the way of education.

However, one is also identifying himself in a broader sense with things, conditions, thoughts, which do not belong directly to that which is considered one's personal appearance. We speak of identifying ourselves with certain religious views or political creeds. And it is quite natural to look at one's home and surroundings as part of oneself and as one of the means by which one expresses oneself. In a still wider sense, we identify ourselves with whatsoever we suppose to be real and true. By giving it hospitality in our consciousness, we are identifying it with our existence.

If one stands before a curved mirror and sees a distorted picture, one does not identify himself with it, understanding that the picture is untrue and therefore unreal. The same applies also to dream pictures. In the dream called insanity, for instance, one may imagine that he is a grain of wheat, and thereby become greatly embarrassed upon seeing a sparrow, supposing he is going to be eaten by the bird. This happened in a case of mental disorder on record.

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