Essential Identity

The essential identity is a simple, pure sense of Presence which feels like self, like "I." It is so simple that it is a subtle matter to differentiate it from other feelings. It is what gives the self the capacity for self-recognition in the essential dimension. It is not the typical sense of identity that most of us know. The typical feeling of identity is only a reflection of the essential identity. When we say that the Essential Identity gives the self the feeling of identity, we do not mean that it is the usual kind of feeling, like animation or sensation. The feeling of an essential Presence is part of its very substance; it is a quality of consciousness, a felt knowingness, a state with a recognizable quality. The closest we can come to describing the present quality is to call it a feeling of identity. (The Point of Existence, pg 136)

The Essential Identity is the capacity of the self to recognize itself without reference to any experience of the past, or any self-image, or even any memory. We recognize ourselves because we are present as ourselves, as the Presence which is authentically ourselves. This pure, unmediated self-recognition is innate, inherent in the self, but it is available only when the self ceases to identify with the content of experience, and thus allows the Essential Identity to arise. (The Point of Existence, pg 138)

The Essential Identity is not an image or representation, nor is it dependent on an image or representation. One directly experiences Presence by being Presence. The Essential Identity is a definite Presence with no boundaries. This is inconceivable under ordinary circumstances in which we assume that we are a bounded entity. But imagine a radiant point of light, definite, precise and clearly differentiated. A point is nondimensional, without separating boundaries. It is the source of light, and it is the light itself. The radiant light goes on for ever; it is not bounded by spatial distance. If we now imagine the light to be consciousness or awareness, then we have a very good impression of a definite conscious Presence which is boundless. One experiences oneself as a brilliant point of light, conscious and aware. Since one is a dimensionless point, one feels singularly definite, but with no sense of boundaries. The Essential Identity feels like a concentrated Presence, a precious and pure Presence of consciousness, with the characteristic sense of self and identity. (The Point of Existence, pg 141)

The Essential Identity is such a deep source of consciousness that, when we are realized on this level, the center of awareness is located at the essential depth of the self; hence, other levels of experience are felt to be somewhat external to that depth. (The Point of Existence, pg 143)

The Essential Identity fills the consciousness with a special kind of preciousness and with a sense of omnipotence and omniscience. We feel that we are completely wonderful, completely able, and totally indestructible. We feel all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful. There is a sense of completeness and totality. When students come upon the experience of the Essential Identity, these qualities are always present. (The Point of Existence, pg 208)

The Essential Identity cannot stand on its own because it is only one of the perfections of Being. For it to stand on its own would mean that it can be isolated from the unity of Being. The Essential Identity is the perfection that represents the total identity of the self with this unity. (The Point of Existence, pg 271)

The Essential Identity means the identity with Essence, the identity with Being. It is the true sense of identity. When we feel the Essential Identity, when we’re being it, we feel we are being ourselves truly and authentically. And there’s a sense of identity, a singular sense of “I” that is definite, uniquely self-existing. You’re there, present as you, without that “you” being defined by any constructed concept. There is “I,” and you know there is “I” because you are there as “I.” The point is identity, a direct sense of recognition of one’s identity without history or mind. And because the Essential Identity is the prototype of identity, it represents the soul’s capacity to be her true nature, her essential nature. It represents being the essential nature on any level. (Spacecruiser Inquiry, pg 376)

Essential identity and awareness

This capacity to be the Essential Identity allows a kind of global awareness and understanding of the hitherto normal experience of the self. One can see the totality of the ego-self, with all its images, structures, object relations, ideas, feelings, plans, ideals, hopes, and patterns. It is not a matter of seeing all the specific details distinctly but of seeing the totality and knowing that it is the totality of the familiar self, without completely delineating all of the specific details. (The Point of Existence, pg 347)

Essential Identity and Being

Essential identity actuates the shift of identity from the conventional dimension of experience to that of Being, but that Being is realized in stages that reflect increasing subtlety of its phenomenological properties. These stages appear, then, in actual experience, as the realization of different dimensions of Being. (The Point of Existence, pg 399)