Sublime

The psychologist James Marcia argues that there are four levels of identity creation. The healthiest people have arrived at what he calls “identity achievement.” They’ve explored different identities, told different stories about themselves, and finally settled on a heroic identity that works.

It’s a process of disembedding from one mindset and then re-embedding in another. An infant believes, I am my parents, but then around age two realizes: I am not my parents. I have parents. A teenager may be so embedded in the interpersonal consciousness that she believes, I am my friendships. But later she realizes: No, I am not my friendships. I