This is a direct excerpt from Alan Cohen's meditation book, A Deep Breath of Life.
"At a seminar, I met a woman who had become entirely identified with being a survivor of sexual abuse. When she met other survivors, she would introduce herself, “Hello, my name is Marge. I am a survivor of sexual abuse. ”
Marge had gotten so involved with claiming this identity that she could not conceive of being more than this. While it’s important to acknowledge the pain and experience surrounding such a significant trauma, it’s also important to remember that there is more to us and our life than being a survivor.
Buddha offered the analogy of traveling across a river on a raft. Once you get to the other side of the waterway, you must leave the raft on the river. It will do you no good to hang the raft on your back and carry it up the mountain. Leave it where you got it, and continue on your journey unimpeded.
All identities serve us temporarily. It is important that we immerse ourselves in an experience as long as it serves us, but then we must grow beyond it. For any affiliation you can identify yourself with, there is a grander one available; we must let go of what we were...to become who we are. Whether you identify yourself as a recovering addict, a student, or even a child of God, there awaits a bigger room to live in.
Ultimately we are simply Spirit. Calling ourselves anything else may help us in the moment, but eventually we must return to what God created us to be."
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