Telosity Blog Oscillating Identity

Some weeks ago, my wife and I joined good friends to enjoy a production of Les Misérables. We'd seen the show before (who in North America hasn't?), and I was struck by how much the audience has changed over the decades. Gone were the suits, and in their place I saw lots of jeans and open shirts. Every generation was represented. While some had dressed up-predominantly the women, if I'm to be honest-most came as they were.And, in the middle of that familiar story, with all its conflicted and primal emotion, stands Jean Valjean, center stage, alone, asking, "Who am I?" It is a piercing question, in part because it is asked on behalf of us all. Only humans explore their own identities, and indeed the great themes of our literature spring from that impulse. "Who am I?" is not a new question. It has been asked throughout the millennia, and the answers we have given at different times, in different places, and under different circumstances have shaped human history.