English philosopher and speaker Alan Watts is considered one of the most influential mediators between Eastern and Western worldviews, and his views have fascinated me for years. I return to his lessons regularly. This little excerpt in particular has a lot of meaning for me. It may be short, but it shows very powerfully how much misunderstanding exists in our society about identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alan Watts describes how we often misunderstandably identify with the roles we are given by our environment. So much more than just being a daughter or son, tailor or sailor. But in order to experience this, we must withdraw from social influence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is the video, of the entire talk by Alan Watts on this topic. I recommend you watch it before we get into exactly what he meant by it (if you don't understand English just skip the video):<\/p>\n\n\n\n