The Meaning Of Identity, Part 2

The Identity Code
by Laurence Ackerman

(Page 2 of 2)

Yet we readily accept that there are laws that hold sway over the physical world, such as the laws of thermodynamics, which can be scientifically validated. When it comes to identity, and the profound impact it has on one's life, there is no doubt in my mind that equally powerful laws exist in nature, even though they can't be demonstrated empirically.

The effects of the Laws of Identity can be seen, for instance, by observing the apparent quality of your own life: How content or discontented are you? How grounded are you as an individual? Would you say that you are your "own person," or do you frequently follow the crowd? Do you stand up publicly for what you believe in, or acquiesce to others' opinions? The answers to these questions provide clues to whether or not you are living in harmony with who you are. The closer you are to living according to your identity, the closer you are to being in sync with the natural laws I am referring to. The opposite is equally the case.

Not only do the eight questions I put forward flow directly from the Laws of Identity, but how I present them — their sequence — is crucial to cracking your identity code. The sequence of these questions builds in a way that tells a story about how life develops when it is lived through the lens of identity.

Without giving away the ending, I will tell you this: The journey you will take begins by finding and embracing a feeling for life you have most likely never experienced before. The feeling I am referring to can't be reached through any of the five physical senses we take for granted: touch, sight, hearing, smell, or taste.

Once you have located this feeling, you will wind your way through a period of self-discovery, during which you will unearth capacities you never knew you had — and come face-to-face with trials you never knew existed.

Finally, as your identity becomes clear, taking on form and meaning, you will arrive at a place where you are filled with passion, conviction, and serenity — a place you will recognize, finally, as home.

In the course of this book, I will illustrate how each of the Laws of Identity, and the question it holds, shapes a crucial piece of your identity code, and how together these laws add up to a fundamental reality that embraces us all.

Discovering The Laws Of Identity

In the summer of 1996, I was vacationing with my family at a ranch in Colorado. Sitting alone in the anteroom of our cabin, my mind drifted back to a conversation I had had with a friend some months earlier. This was the gist of our conversation: I was explaining my belief that there is more to the idea that every person is unique than that truism conveys. My assertion wasn't casual. I meant it literally. There is more at work in the forces of human nature than we know. It has to be that way, I reasoned, because people are born with identities that shape who they are and, by extension, affect what they do with their lives. That conversation rolled around in my mind for well over an hour, as I watched the sun arc across the aspens behind our cabin.

Suddenly, I understood what I had been struggling to say: that there are laws of nature that exist simply as a result of being human and that knowing these laws is the key to understanding our uniqueness and potential as individuals. That revelation changed my life forever.

In the hours and days that followed, that insight absorbed nearly all of my energy. I had opened the floodgates to a well of knowledge within me that had lain dormant for decades. One perception cascaded into another in rapid succession.

In my state of hyperawareness, I sensed the concreteness of my own identity. I could almost feel it pulsating inside me. It was the soft rock at the center of what made me, me. Not only did my identity seem tangible, it also appeared to contain a particular structure — a structure, I realized, that was somehow linked to the natural laws I now knew existed. The image that came to my mind in that moment was beautiful. I felt I was watching the bud of a rose open suddenly, unfolding its petals all at once to reveal a small, glowing sphere at its center.

By definition, a person's identity isn't something to be unfurled like a flower, in ways that expose its hidden parts. The opposite is true: identity is the most perfectly integrated expression of a human being there is. Our identity presents nothing less than the "whole" picture of who we are capable of becoming as individuals. The fact that I was now able to glimpse its remarkable composition only heightened my sense of anticipation.

In that instant, I understood that the structure my identity contained illuminated not just its beauty but its extraordinary power as well. If I could decipher my identity, I imagined, I would discover the secrets it held — secrets about my special strengths and true passions, and what they suggested in terms of which path to follow and which ones to avoid.

Two days later, sitting by a river near our cabin, I watched intently as the trees, the mountains, the cobalt-blue sky, and the late-day sun combined to produce their predictable splendor. From where I sat, it was easy to confirm that life is exquisitely beautiful, as far as the eye can see. But it had taken a different kind of sight for me to recognize how beautifully ordered life is at the core of our beings, where the essence of our selves is formed.

Identity is beautiful and it is powerful. The natural laws I discerned in the summer of 1996 have proven to be as universally absolute, inescapable, and predictive in their effect on life as the laws of physics, which govern the external world. These are the Laws of Identity:

I. The Law of Being

An individual's ability to live depends first upon defining one's self as separate from all others.

II. The Law of Individuality

A person's natural capacities invariably fuse into a discernible identity that makes that person unique.

III.The Law of Constancy

Identity is fixed, transcending time and place, while its manifestations are constantly changing.

IV. The Law of Will

Every individual is compelled to create value in accordance with his or her identity.

V. The Law of Possibility

Identity foreshadows potential.

VI. The Law of Relationship

Individuals are inherently relational and relationships are only as strong as the natural alignment between the identities of the participants.

VII. The Law of Comprehension

An individual's various capacities are only as valuable as the perceived value of the whole of that individual.

VIII. The Law of the Cycle

Identity governs value, which produces wealth, which fuels identity.

Copyright © 2005 by Laurence Ackerman. Excerpted by permission of Random House, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Larry Ackerman is a leading authority on organizational and personal identity. As group director for the international identity- and brand-consulting firm Siegel & Gale, Ackerman is widely regarded as the pioneer in the field of identity-based management. His many and diverse clients include Alcoa, Maytag, Fidelity Investments, the Dow Chemical Company, Ernst & Young, Norsk Hydro, Interbrew, and Boise Cascade. His first book, Identity Is Destiny, set forth a revolutionary view of the nature of identity and its fundamental impact on organizational and leadership development. He lives in Weston, Connecticut, with his wife and son.