A/N
The last episode, The Probe, was about knowing your foe and being aware of what he may think to your words. (Directly and indirectly) In this chapter, I digress towards the identity itself and what creates it. Also by the concept of knowing your foe, knowing what an identity is like and what creates it would also be some aid in converting people. I thank Creative Reader for his opening chapter "Lost Identity-David's Lost Identity" which spured me on to write the next chapter and gave me inspiration to consider what an identity consists.

**If you haven't notice, you can access my previous entries through the Lost Ark of Recalls. Just scroll all the way.
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--Metamorphoses: Before you consider an in-depth break-in, one must know what the essence of idenity holds. Back to Basics. --

How does one define identity? Using the trusty m-w.com, Identity is said to be:

a : the distinguishing character or personality of an individual
b : the relation established by psychological identification

The irony of this is that although Identity may be considered to be something unique, its second defination is sameness of essential or generic character in different instances. Let us consider the constants of the universe. Constants can be defined as rules and laws such as the principle of moments or time structured to be 24 hours in a day.

_Is one's identity a constant?
When we question such, we are reminded of growth and time. It may be right to say that one's identity matures with time, or rather the experience which time brings about. But maturity is a a certain sense vague. When we look at things beyond the horizons of praticallity and traditional actions, maturity is hard to be defined. One good solution to this is to use the word "change" instead. The cliche quote "Change is always constant" would apply to an identity.

What then, creates an Identity. If cloning were to be a reality, would the identities of the clones still hold true to the madien being? I explained, through Jerry, in Chapter 2 of "Lost Identity" that the ingredients of an identity are a body, a mind and a soul. Yes, the cliched trinity.

Yet, if Identites change, then, it would not be so sufficient to only explain the identity through its ingredients. I.e. I could say Identity = Influence + Intelligence + Circumstances + Divine Opportunities + Perceptions. But, identity, being a variable can be changed through other abstract factors, not only these limiting few. If, we assume these factors all to be constants, then there can be many identities already formed. We could play around with the eqation by substituating in cases/examples and deleting off instances. Or simply by just manupilating the equation (I.e. Adding modulus to the various "constants", diving the whole equation by a single "constant" etc.) And of course, these factors are NOT constants in the first place. Their pretty much all variables. This gives the equation limitless possiblites.

_Masks
I had saw a little bit of the Televison Premiere of "The Mask", the part where the guy(forgot his name) watches the TV and switches it to this talkshow shows a guy promoting his book, "The Masks we all wear." He said something along the lines of "Its true, all of us wears a mask in life." So, the identity question faces a barrier here. Since we have masks, it shows that we have various identites. The world has discovered that I think. The closest thing I can remeber to this is the movie "The One". (Alternate Self) I also like to digress a bit on what I found out.... it seems the mask in "The Mask"is some magical object which unmasks your original mask and pulls out the real you under all the crap. (Then again... well, maybe not.) In any case, I think everyone does has several masks. For me personally, I act differently when I am around different people or different groups. There's also the "first impression shield" we wear around people we just met and masks which hide what we really think and feel. (People who want to convert someone hate these masks.)

_Ultima
But ultimately, do we have this one, absoulute identity? I personally believe so. And I think its scripted into our soul. Thats why when we make a decision to accept christ, it is God's will. And when we try converting someone to be a christian, its not through our power that they are convienced but through God's.

-- Epilogu[e] --
We should respect everyone's identity as their very own. That was one very important factor in the budding success of the human race. (Though they do screw up a lot) Keeping that in mind would be good in our future conversions of any identity.

Footnotes:
Ahhh... I feel much better now. Don't think I've got much to add... Doing this entry does provoke me into thinking about my Chapter at fictionpress though.. I want reviews....

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