We've all heard the term, as it applies to credit cards and bank accounts and actual fraud and grand larceny. But I thought of a new use for the term today, one that one tends to see in politics and spiritual movements.
What seems to happen, with this other form of "identity theft," is that a weak person with very little sense of self worth (let alone Self) gloms onto a politician or a spiritual figure and identifies with them...uh...a bit overmuch. In politics, this is known as being a "strong supporter." In spiritual groups, this is often known as "bhakti" or "devotion." And, although there are points to be made for picking one's heroes and helping them achieve their goals, I suspect that literally everyone here has *also* seen the "down side" of identifying with someone so strongly that one loses perspective. *On this forum* we have seen TMers wish other former TMers dead and in Hell, for the crime of simply not feeling the same way about the person whose identity the crazy person has so identified with that they've lost perspective. *On this forum* we have seen the same thing with regard to politics, with women who have so identified with Hillary Clinton basically wishing Barack Obama harm, and promising to act in a way calculated to harm not only him but America and the world, just to somehow "get back" at Obama for the crime of...and this is the kicker...winning the nomination. Call it simplistic, but I'm starting to wonder whether the more that one identifies with someone *else's* self, be it the self of a politician or a guru, the less that person is in touch with Self and the more out of balance they are, spiritually and mentally. It's as if by identi- fying with the person they've put up on a pedestal and in effect stealing their identity, they've lost their own. That might explain the extreme lack of balance and perspective one tends to see in such people. Then again, perhaps one sees imbalance in them because they're simply imbalanced, and crazy as loons. Whatever.
