The process of identification—of who we think we are—is at the root of wetiko. “Who do we think we are?” is a real question that implies that our sense of identity is related to our thinking, to our very mind itself. Our subjective experience of identity itself is quite malleable and is a function of our own mind, which is to say we are actively participating in the moment-by-moment creation of our experience of identity. Our sense of identity molds us, while we are at the same time the ones crafting our identity. What we don’t want is to let wetiko forge our identity for us. Because wetiko disease (which I’ve also referred to as Malignant Egophrenia, i.e., ME disease) is, in its essence, to have fallen into a state of mistaken identity, the best medicine for wetiko is to know who we are.
Our true nature, our true identity—who we really are—is impervious to wetiko’s pernicious influence. Wetiko can’t take over, possess or have any effect on our true nature, which is not an object that can be manipulated or possessed by wetiko (or anything else, for that matter). For this reason, wetiko’s strategy is to set up a substitute counterfeit version—a simulation—of ourselves. It then tricks us into identifying with this fraudulent version of ourselves. Wetiko cannot stand it when we identify with our true nature as creative beings, for then it has nothing to sink its roots—and fangs—into.
If we don’t pick up and mobilize the creativity that is an essential aspect of our very nature, however, wetiko is happy to use our unexpressed creativity for us in order to serve its agenda, which we can be sure does not serve our best interests. Wetiko has no creativity on its own, but it’s a master impersonator - we can conceive of it as the ape of the divine. The apocryphal texts call wetiko “the counterfeiting spirit” (the antimimon pneuma). A master mime, wetiko creates a copycat version of us, literally masquerading as ourselves....<<<Read More>>>
