Unfortunately, there are politicians and religions who take advantage of this and say things like "The other party wants to destroy [insert something of yours]" or "They want to take away your religion", etc. And they create the fear that most affects you on a core level. So, because it is attached to your identity, the EGO jumps up to protect itself.

Imagine if the current political parties all of a sudden said "We are now going to all become one party; the Purple People Party!" and all of the issues are now going to be addressed under one simple interpretation of the law. If you were attached to your political party, what would you do? Who are you now?

Or what if the leaders of Judaism, Buddhism, Catholicism/Christianity, Paganism, etc. all got together and pieced their beliefs together into one main spiritual belief and they called it the Law of Love. So that from now on, there is only one belief system, and it is based on all the world beliefs combined. If you are your religious beliefs, who are you now?

And what about your feelings and emotions? Are you your feelings and emotions? To find this answer first we need to get clear on where they come from. Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, in his book Your Erroneous Zones explains that our feelings and emotions are only the result of how we perceive an event. We perceive said event based on our thoughts, beliefs, and opinions.

For example, if you were going to have an abortion, those who are Pro-Life would condemn you while those who are Pro-Choice would support you. The event or situation is the same, the only thing that generates a different response or emotional reaction in other people is the way they perceive it based on their beliefs. - We're not saying anything about who's right or wrong, We're simply illustrating two opposing emotional responses to the same input.

Now, each one of us has a different perspective on things based on our past history, lessons, learned philosophies, etc. Does that mean you are your past? No, you have a past. Your past experiences are simply lesson opportunities. We learn, we grow, we move on to the next lesson. Your past was never meant to be carried as a life sentence. You made mistakes in the past? Learn the lesson and grow from it, staying attached to it as if that's who you are will simply keep you from growing. You can't move forward in the monkey bars if you don't let go of the old rung.