27 June 2025 Who am I? A Journey of Personal Identity
- quietspacesplymout
- Aug 17
- 7 min read
Welcome, and opening prayer
Dear Lord, please fill our hearts and minds with the Holy Spirit, and help us know we are children of God and holding our true identity with You. Please give us the wisdom to live our lives with You central to our being, to our identity, and with you as our ‘ultimate.’ And do not let us be tempted by the Golden Calves of today, forever beckoning us to grasp their shiny selves with promises of happiness. Let us stay true to You, always and forever. Thank you our dear Lord God. Amen
My Story
My morning routine as a serial identity seeker commenced with the alarm and the daily question – who am I? It started with pop stars in my teens and at age seventeen I became ‘the skier’. I dabbled in ski racing, moving to the Austrian Alps at age twenty-two, working as a ski instructor and ski guide. Skiing was my life, skiing was me, it encapsulated my whole being, my personal identity, I was ‘the skier’. And I would reluctantly and embarrassingly add, my ego was involved. Integral to my identity was that of being a good skier and keen to show my skills on the slopes. At age twenty-seven I moved back to the UK to conform to what I felt were societal norms and expectations – that of seeking a serious well-paid career. After all, the eighties was the decade of the yuppie, with the accompanying idols of money and career! However, I left my identity in Austria. I felt naked, devoid of knowing who I was. I was lost.
We see in Exodus 32 the creation of the Golden Calf – a material worship idol. In contemporary western society, rather than the Golden Calf, we have careers, beauty, money, and more to worship and idolise. Philosophical discussion on personal identity have been ongoing since Aristotle and Plato. In contemporary western society the idols we worship can form our identity. Identity is ‘who’ we are. It is the image we project to others, telling them ‘I am this, this is who I am,’ and whom we know ourselves to be. It is the ‘who’ that others see us as. And it provides our self-worth. Sociologist Anthony Giddens highlights the shift from traditional fixed identities of earlier ages, formed from gender, occupation, class, family or locality - to individualistic, unique, fluid, unstable and reflexive identities of the post-modern era in western society.[1]
But an identity other than being fixed on God needs to be earnt and can be taken away at any time. It comes with risk. A career can be ended, youthful beauty can be diminished with age. We see the quote from Harold M. Abrahams in the film ‘Chariots of Fire’: ‘And now, in one hour's time, I will be out there again. I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor - 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence.’[2] His identity and self-worth totally fixated on his success as a sprinter.
Christian Identities are indeed different
Thomas Merton believed that our identity can only be in God, with this providing the fulfilment, peace, and happiness of our existence - if you find God, you find yourself.[3] Merton states, ‘If I find Him I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find Him … The secret of my identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God.’[4]
So what is our identity in God? It is secure, does not need to be earnt, does not depend on ability and importantly can never be taken away.
I will now read some quotes from Richard Rohr
‘There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If I find Him I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find Him.[5]
‘You are not making choices as much as you are being guided, taught, and led—which leads to “choiceless choices.”’[6]
‘We move from the driver’s seat to being a happy passenger, one who is still allowed to make helpful suggestions to the Driver. We are henceforth “a serene disciple,” living in our own unique soul as never before, yet paradoxically living within the mind and heart of God, and taking our place in the great and general dance.’ [7]
Jesus came to share his identity with you and to tell you that you are the Beloved Sons and Daughters of God. Just for a moment try to enter this enormous mystery that you, like Jesus, are the beloved daughter or the beloved son of God. This is the truth. Furthermore, your belovedness preceded your birth. You were the beloved before your father, mother, brother, sister, or church loved you or hurt you. You are the beloved because you belong to God from all eternity.
God loved you before you were born, and God will love you after you die. In Scripture, God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” This is a very fundamental truth of your identity. This is who you are whether you feel it or not. You belong to God from eternity to eternity. Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say, “I love you, too.”
Beloved Is Where We Begin
If you would enter
into the wilderness,
do not begin
without a blessing.
Do not leave
without hearing
who you are:
Beloved,
named by the One
who has travelled this path
before you.
Do not go
without letting it echo
in your ears,
and if you find
it is hard
to let it into your heart,
do not despair.
That is what
this journey is for.
I cannot promise
this blessing will free you
from danger,
from fear,
from hunger
or thirst,
from the scorching
of sun
or the fall
of the night.
But I can tell you
that on this path
there will be help.
I can tell you
that on this way
there will be rest.
I can tell you
that you will know
the strange graces
that come to our aid
only on a road
such as this,
that fly to meet us
bearing comfort
and strength,
that come alongside us
for no other cause
than to lean themselves
toward our ear
and with their
curious insistence
whisper our name:
Beloved.
Beloved.
Beloved.
Richardson, Jan. Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons (pp. 84-85). Wanton Gospeller Press. Kindle Edition.
Introduction to Silence
Blessing
For Solitude
May you recognize in your life the presence,
power and light of your soul.
May you realize that you are never alone,
that your soul in its brightness and belonging
connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.
May you have respect for your own individuality and difference.
May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique,
that you have a special destiny here,
that behind the facade of your life
there is something beautiful and eternal happening.
May you learn to see your self
with the same delight,
pride, and expectation
with which God sees you in every moment.
John O’Donohue, Benedictus, Kindle p116
Thoughts To Ponder
Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
John 1:12: "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
Matthew 6:24 states ‘No one can serve two masters …. You cannot serve both God and money.
Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny. . . . We are even called to share with God the work of creating the truth of our identity. . . . To work out our own identity in God. . . . The secret of my full identity is hidden in Him. Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
Using the image of a garden, we can see how each flower has its own space to grow. It is this distinct, defined space that allows each flower to be what it is and not something else. With clear boundaries, each flower and all of the flowers together create a beautiful mosaic of color and variety.
“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” – St. Catherine of Siena
John Calvin put it this way: “Without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God. Without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self.”[1]a
I come, Jesus says, to reveal to you who you truly are. And who are you? You are a child of God. You are the one who I call my child. You are my son, you are my daughter.
G. K. Chesterton added, “One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God; but thou shalt not know thyself. We are all under the same mental calamity; we have all forgotten our names. We have all forgotten what we really are.”
Snodgrass, Klyne R Who God Says You Are: A Christian Understanding of Identity. Kindle loc 104
Franciscan author Richard Rohr considers his own identity in terms of wanting to be like St Francis of Assisi. Reminded by his spiritual director that this will never be and he must accept he is ‘Richard Rohr from Kansas’,[2]a he realised he was ‘precisely the gift God wants.’[3]a
FOOTNOTES
[1] Giddens, Anthony. Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (Polity Press, Cambridge, 2013) Kindle Edition. p74
[2] IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082158/characters/nm0002027 accessed 10 April 2025
[3] Merton, Thomas, New Seeds of Contemplation, (1961, 2007 The Abbey of Gethsemani, Inc.; 2023 New Directions Publishing Corp, New York,) Audible, Chapter 5
[4] Merton, Thomas, New Seeds of Contemplation, (1961, 2007 The Abbey of Gethsemani, Inc.; 2023 New Directions Publishing Corp, New York,) Audible, Chapter 5
[5] Rohr Richard, Centre for Action and Contemplation, False Self and True Self, Part II https://cac.org/daily-meditations/false-self-true-self-part-2-2015-08-19/ accessed 3 April 2025
[6] Rohr Richard, Centre for Action and Contemplation, First and Second Halves of Life, Part II https://cac.org/daily-meditations/first-second-halves-life-part-2-2015-08-21/ accessed 3 April 2025
[7] Rohr Richard, Centre for Action and Contemplation, First and Second Halves of Life, Part II https://cac.org/daily-meditations/first-second-halves-life-part-2-2015-08-21/ accessed 3 April 2025
[1]a Snodgrass, Klyne R. (2018-01-07T22:58:59.000). Who God Says You Are: A Christian Understanding of Identity . Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition. loc 91
[2]a Rohr, Richard, The Divine Dance, (SPCK, London 2016) p43
[3]a Rohr, Richard, The Divine Dance, (SPCK, London 2016) p43
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