Identity

Identity is not the same as self. (The Point of Existence, pg 34)

One of the most significant characteristics of the soul is that it can identify with the content of experience. It can take any impression, for example self-image, and make itself believe that that impression is itself. It can also take a part of the psychological structure and believe it to be the whole of itself. Identifying with an impression or the content of experience makes the self believe that it has an identity, and through this identity it then recognizes itself. Our personal history, constituted by our memories, comprises the basic content of our usual identity. This identification with the personal history provides a feeling of self-recognition, a sense of identity, or a sense of self. So in experiencing itself through the veil of memories, the soul not only loses sight of its primordial purity – its Essence – but also identifies itself through and with this veil of personal history. (The Point of Existence, pg 25)

The feeling of identity is based on the totality of all representations in the structure of self-identity. We can now see the significance of distinguishing between the feeling of identity and its content. (The Point of Existence, pg 105)

The fact that identity locates the experience of the self points to other functions of identity. Identity determines the locus of consciousness, awareness, perception, and observation. The feeling of identity is inseparably connected with the center of perception, what is usually referred to as the "observer." This is the ordinary experience of all normal individuals; everyone experiences the sense of "I" as the center of perception. (The Point of Existence, pg 110)

Normal identity

It naturally follows that the normal sense of identity and the structure of self-identity it is based on, is not only inherently weak and insecure, but also cannot be supported in any true way. Truth cannot support something false. The normal identity is ultimately an empty shell, which is not supported internally by anything authentic. When the shell is deeply investigated, then, it will inevitably be found to lack true support. Underlying the identification with the shell, we always find an emptiness characterized by the aspect of no support. The ego sense of identity is supported by psychic structures based on internalized object relations, and by transference situations that are enactments of those object relations. The idealizing transference is the primary object relation specifically utilized for the purpose of supporting this identity. (The Point of Existence, pg 250)

Identity and instinct

Not questioning the power of the instincts is tantamount to not questioning the most tenacious sector of the personality -- the sense of identity, the sense of self, or what is called in depth psychology the ego identity. In ego psychology and object relations theory, a distinction is made between ego and ego identity. The ego is the overall process and structure. But the ego identity, the self, is the organizing center, the apex of the developmental process. It is the normal sense of identity that people have. It is what the ordinary person means when he says "I." It is an identification tag designating the ego, which differentiates the individual psychologically from other people. (Essence, pg 167)