Spiritual Rhythms of Life for Today

Self-identity is, to some degree, other constructed. There are, and never were, any independent or individualistic hero's or heroine's – no self-made ME or capital ‘I.’ Focus on the latter for a moment. This ‘I’ was and is a chimera. That is, when it comes to self-identity, a foundational modernist ‘I’ does not exist. This should not, however, push us into the notion that all that’s left to self-identity is therefore the shattered post-modern ‘I’, which is notably another fanciful illusion. Neither does this rejection of ‘I’hood require that self-identity be merely a product of systems, structures, and society, resulting in something like a generic self. After the collapse of these false alternatives, there arises another possibility. A recognition that self-identity is connected with createdness and Creator as Other, yet is in need of refiguration because of alienation and de-communityization. To be sure, a new self-identity is connected to being a truer self, an authentic self, shaped and transformed into the image of the Crucified and Risen One, a real self if there ever was one.