IDENTITY : A SENSE OF BEING CONSCIOUS

Identity is an external concept in the sense that it comes to fore in opposition to the other. The other may be an individual, group or may be any inanimate object. Generally identity comes to fore at the time of some crisis.For instance, initially when Man came out of the forests to the plains he might had become aware of his identity as ‘something’ different from other animals. Then as he lost the advantages of prehensile toe and got the advantages of using his hands and became more vulnerable to attack by others it might have appeared advantageous to him to belong to some group. This sense of urgency of affiliation to a group might have been reinforced by the shortage of food and territory. ( Again a kind of crisis). So a shift or addition of another layer of identity --- an identity of belonging to a group. Intially the loyalty to the group started as a result of fear of enemies. The belongingness to a group becames as one of the major forces of ‘ natural selection’, putting the lonely individuals at risk and thus creating a kind of urgency to belong to a group or to create one’s own group. The sense of being conscious of one’s ownself in relation to others which started as a biological instinct became a social need ---- a basic requirement for survival