與事物的認同

2023年12月4日發(作者：十里長街送總理)

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與事物的認同

廣告業界的人都非常了解，想要人們購買他們并不是真正需要的東西，他們必須要說服人們：這些東西會加強他們看待自己的或是如何被別人看待的良好感覺，換句話說，就是為他們的自我感加分。

比方說，廣告會告訴你：如果你用了這個產品你就會出類拔萃，意指你會更能成為自己?；蚴撬麄兛赡茉谀愕哪X海中制造一個印象：這個產品是和一位名人，或是一個年輕有魅力，或快樂無比的人有關聯，即使已經垂垂老矣或是去世的名人在他們當紅時期的照片，都可以達到這樣的目的。在這里隱含的假設就是：買了這個產品之后，經由一些神奇的聯結行為，你會變得像他們一樣，或是表面上的形像會看起來像他們一樣。所以很多情況下，你買的不是那個產品，而是買一個“身份認同的強化品”。

名牌的標簽的基本上讓你買一個集體意識的身份認同。它們非常的名貴，所以也非常的“獨特”，如果每一個人都可以買得起的話，它們就會失去其心理上的價值，那么剩下來的就只是物質的價值，那大概只有付的價錢的零頭而已。

每個人會認同于什么樣的事物因人而異，取決于你的年齡、性別、收入、社會地位、時尚、周邊文化等等。你所認同的事物就是內容；而你無意識地、強迫性地去認同，就是結構性的。這是小我心智運作最基本的方式之一。

矛盾的是，使得所謂“消費者社會”得以繼續存在的原因，就是我們試圖在事物當中尋找自己但卻失敗的事實：小我的滿足是如此的短暫，所以你不斷地追尋更多，買得更多，一直不停地消費。

當然，在我們表層自我(surfacelves)所生存的物質向度中，有很多事物是生活中不可或缺的必需品。我們需要房屋、衣服、家具、工具、交通運輸等，在生活中，我們也會因為一些事物的美麗或本有的特質而珍視它們。我們需要尊崇物質世界，而不是鄙視它。每一樣事物都有它的本體(beingness)，都是從無形的至一生命——所有事物、所有實體、所有形相的源頭——所衍生出來的短暫形相。在最古老的文化中，人們相信每一件事物，即使是所謂的無生命的物體，都有一個生存于其中的靈性，而在這方面，這些古老的文化比我們現代人更接近真相。當生活在一個被抽象概念弄得死氣沉沉的世界之中，你已經無法感覺這個宇宙的生命力了。大多數人都不住在一個活生生的實相中，而是生活在一個由概念組成的世界里。但我們如果只是把世間的事物當成加強自我的工具，并試圖在其中尋找自我的話，我們是無法真正地尊崇它們的。

而小我卻正是這么做的：它對事物的認同，創造了我們對事物的執著、迷戀，繼而創造了我們的消費社會和經濟架構，在其中，唯一衡量進步的標準就是：更多!

無由地“努力要更多”、“無盡地成長”，就是一種功能失調和疾病。它和癌細胞增長所顯示的功能失調是一樣的，唯一的目的就是不斷地倍增，卻不知道毀壞了自身所屬的器官，因而招致自身的毀滅。很多經濟學家非常執著于成長的概念，他們甚至無法放下“成長”這個字眼，所以他們稱衰退為“負向成長”。很多人生命的絕大部分，都是消耗在對事物先入為主的迷戀上，這就是為什么我們這個時代的禍害之一就是物質的激增。當你無法感受到自己所是的那個生命時，你很可能就會用物質來填滿你的生活。

我建議你：經由自我觀察，來研究一下你和這個世界中事物的關系，特別是那些你會稱之為“我的”的事物，這可以作為一種靈性的修持。比方說，你必須在很警覺和誠實，才能發現你的自我價值感是否受限于你所擁有的東西。有沒有一些東西會觸發你一些微妙的重要感或是優越感？缺乏某些東西，是否會讓你覺得遜于他人，因為他們有的比你更多？你是否會不經意地提到你所擁有的事物或是炫耀它們，好增加你在他人眼中的自我價值，或是讓你的自我感覺比較良好？當別人的東西比你多，或是你失去了貴重財產的時候，你是否會覺得怨恨或憤怒，而且你的自我價值好像有些縮減了？

IDENTIFICATION WITH THINGS

The people in the advertising industry know very well that in

order to ll things that people don’t really need, they must

convince them that tho things will add something to how they

e themlves or are en by others; in other words, add

something to their n of lf. They do this, for example, by

telling you that you will stand out from the crowd by using this

product and so by implication be more fully yourlf. Or they may

create an association in your mind between the product and a

famous person, or a youthful, attractive, or happy-looking person.

Even pictures of old or decead celebrities in their prime work

well for that purpo. The unspoken assumption is that by buying

this product, through some magical act of appropriation, you

become like them, or rather the surface image of them. And so

in many cas you are not buying a product but an “identity

enhancer.” Designer labels are primarily collective identities that

you buy into. They are expensive and therefore “exclusive.” If

everybody could buy them, they would lo their psychological

value and all you would be left with would be their material value,

which likely amounts to a fraction of what you paid.

What kind of things you identify with will vary from person

to person according to age, gender, income, social class, fashion,

the surrounding culture, and so on. What you identify with is all

to do with content; whereas, the unconscious compulsion to identify is structural. It is one of the most basic ways in which the

egoic mind operates.

Paradoxically, what keeps the so-called consumer society

going is the fact that trying to find yourlf through things

doesn’t work: The ego satisfaction is short-lived and so you

keep looking for more, keep buying, keep consuming.

Of cour, in this physical dimension that our surface lves

inhabit, things are a necessary and inescapable part of our lives.

We need housing, clothes, furniture, tools, transportation. There

may also be things in our lives that we value becau of their

beauty or inherent quality. We need to honor the world of things,

not despi it. Each thing has Beingness, is a temporary form that

has its origin within the formless one Life, the source of all things,

all bodies, all forms. In most ancient cultures, people believed

that everything, even so-called inanimate objects, had an

indwelling spirit, and in

this respect they were clor to the truth than we are today.

When you live in a world deadened by mental abstraction, you

don’t n the aliveness of the univer anymore. Most people

don’t inhabit a living reality, but a conceptualized one.

But we cannot really honor things if we u them as a means

to lf- enhancement, that is to say, if we try to find ourlves

through them. This is exactly what the ego does. Ego-identification with things creates attachment to things, obssion

with things, which in turn creates our consumer society and

economic structures where the only measure of progress is

always more. The unchecked striving for more, for endless

growth, is a dysfunction and a dia. It is the same dysfunction

the cancerous cell manifests, who only goal is to multiply itlf,

unaware that it is bringing about its own destruction by destroying the organism of which it is a part. Some economists

are so attached to the notion of growth that they can’t let go of

that word, so they refer to recession as a time of “negative

growth.”

A large part of many people’s lives is consumed by an

obssive preoccupation with things. This is why one of the ills of

our times is object proliferation. When you can no feel the life

that you are, you are likely to fill up your life with things. As a

spiritual practice, I suggest that you investigate your relationship

with the world of things through lf-obrvation, and in

particular, things that are designated with the word “my.” You

need to be alert and honest to find out, for example, whether

your n of lf-worth is bound up with things you posss. Do

certain things induce a subtle feeling of importance or

superiority? Does the lack of them make you feel inferior to

others who have more than you? Do you casually mention things

you own or show them off to increa your n of worth in

someone el’s eyes and through them in your own? Do you

feel rentful or angry and somehow diminished in your n of

lf when someone el has more than you or when you lo a

prized posssion?

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