This quote is one of the gems that really hit home for me after watching this video: “You’re not just playing the game. You’re playing in the game.” I’ve since found the quote to be one of my favorite and most potent self-awareness mantras.
Khabib has a long history of writing about issues of personal identity and identity in context. His writings cover a broad range of topics, from personal identity and the intersection of race and religion, to the relationship between the internet and democracy, to the idea that the only way to truly change the world is to change yourself.
The thing that makes khabib’s writings so compelling is that he is both insightful and a little bit mad. He is one of those rare folks who are able to put his own experiences in a humanistic perspective.
In his book The End of Identity, khabib lays out the idea that the way we use identity to define who we are can define the way we live. For instance, if you have a pet who is your friend, then that same pet is an extension of your identity. If you have a friend who is your pet, the same friend is also an extension of your identity.
It is interesting that khabib does not see identity as a “thing,” and therefore doesn’t see it as separate from the self. Instead, khabib sees the two as interrelated. He even goes so far as to say that we can’t simply “give up” our identity (which is what he is referring to when he says that our identities are “an extension of our selves”), we can only give up our identity temporarily.
The fact is that we don’t have to give up. If we can’t give up our identity, then we can give up our identity, and then we can give up our identity, only to continue to give up our identity.
This is another way of thinking about identity. When we say that we arent our identity, we are actually saying that we are just a part of ourselves. A part of ourselves that we have become. That is, we are not our identity, we are just our identity. And as long as we arent our identity, we will still want to do what we want to do.
So, no, youre not really in a time loop.
No, its not like I’ve been living in a time loop for thirty years, or I wouldnt be able to do a thing. And if I could do a thing, it wouldnt be something that I am doing, it would be something that I am not doing. But I’m not my identity, I am not a part of myself.