The other day, a friend of mine gave me a warning:
"Be careful, check your profile on networks to increase its security... consider what it could mean for you if you lose it".
And this has made me reflect deeply in the last week.
Because beyond the logic behind it (protecting a professional tool, taking care of a valuable communication channel), that phrase touched on something more essential: identity.
Our online profile has become a concrete way of showing ourselves to the world. For those who do not know us in person, what we share (photos, thoughts, achievements, words, symbols) becomes the narrative of who we are. It allows us to be seen, recognised, remembered.
And in this virtual reflection, we also recognise ourselves.
We feel defined by that image.
We feel validated (or not) depending on how it resonates with others.
But that is not the only identity we build.
Also, in everyday life, we weave an image of who we are: in our family, in our friendships, in our partner, in our spiritual or work circles. We leave clues, signs, forms, ways. We settle into certain roles. We defend ourselves with certain traits. And often, without realising it, we begin to depend on that image remaining intact.
Why?
Because it gives us meaning. Because we believe that without it no one would know who we are. Because we fear the emptiness that comes from having nothing solid to identify with.
We become faithful guardians of what we believe ourselves to be.
Of what we have said. Of what we have done.
Of the name we have been given and the name we have given ourselves.
But... what if one day all that disappears?
What if the profile is deleted, or if we no longer fit the character we used to play?
Then the possibility opens up: disidentification.
Not as a denial of what has been experienced, but as a liberation.
Like a deep breath that allows us to let go of the burden of always having to be "someone".
Like a break from the effort of holding an image.
What lies beyond this identity that we defend so much?
What appears when there are no more labels, no more profiles, no more roles?
The soul does not need to be validated to be real.
The heart does not need to be understood to keep on loving.
The spirit does not need a profile to radiate.
Perhaps letting go of what we think we are is not a loss, but a door.
A crack into who we are without effort, without embellishment, without the need for verification.
A return to the Self that does not need to show itself, for it simply is.
Then...
Could we let go of that identity without fear?
Could we inhabit the void that remains when there is nothing left to prove?
Could we live disidentified, while remaining fully alive?
Perhaps losing who we think we are is the only way to discover what we really are. we are.
With love,
Carlos Niwe
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