Our Identity in Christ

In the quiet of prayer or the chaos of daily life, we may find ourselves asking: Who am I, really?

Am I the roles that I fulfill? My thoughts? My emotions? My past? Am I the pain I carry? Am I the sum of my failures or successes?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) answers this with a confusing term called self-as-context. But it gives a more descriptive term for therapeutic use: the observing self.

The observing self is framed as the "you" that is aware of your thoughts, feelings, memories, and experiences without being any of them. It is the perspective from which you notice all inner and outer experiences. While thoughts and emotions constantly change, this sense of self as the observer remains stable. (Although if you don't have practice, it can be hard to separate out). It is a consistent point of awareness across time and situations.

Taken further, it is a concept which invites us to step back from these shifting, surface-level experiences and acknowledge a deeper, unchanging reality of self. And this inner witnessing self, when approached through the lens of faith, becomes not just a psychological insight, but a theological one.

Because in truth, we are not our passing thoughts or labels. We are, ultimately, who we are in Christ.

The Witness Within: A Stable Place in the Storm

In ACT, the observing self refers to the stable perspective from which we notice our experiences. It's the part of us that observes rather than gets entangled. The self that notices the sadness, fear, or anger without becoming it.

It's possible this isn't a concept that seems easy to connect to. We are used to a world which moves quickly and doesn't always encourage discernment of feelings or thoughts, which is so different than being tangled up in them. Our urges and desires can be so strong as to seem to be our whole selves at times, but it is not the case.

Imagine a clear sky that remains undisturbed even as clouds race across it. That sky is your observing self: present, spacious, unchanged. Thoughts come and go. Roles and feelings shift. But the part of you that sees all this remains. It is the "you" that is the backdrop, the "you" doing the noticing.

Now, go one step deeper: that observing self is not just a psychological faculty. It is a scientific observation pointing towards a fuller reality when we consider God.

Christ Reveals Man to Himself

The Second Vatican Council put it this way: “Christ fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme calling clear.” (Gaudium et Spes, §22)

Jesus doesn’t just show us what God is like. He shows us what it means to be human. He lived fully present to His experiences, yet never reduced Himself to them. He wept, laughed, suffered, celebrated. He was tortured and died. But even in agony, He was more than all of those things, could not be reduced, and remained rooted in His identity as the Beloved Son.

This is the invitation for us as well. We are not our trauma, our sins, our doubts, or even our virtues. We are not what others say about us or what we think about ourselves. We are sons and daughters of God.

We are the ones who observe, choose, and respond. The ones who are beyond the stimulus-response patterns of other creatures. Those who can contemplate and exercise will. The ones who are held in the gaze of the Father, even when we lose sight of Him. The ones who are made in His image and likeness.

When the World Feels Like Too Much

In a world that constantly demands identity labels - gender, job, political stance, personality type - it’s easy to get lost. We chase affirmation or protection by clinging to parts of ourselves that feel solid. But deep down, we know: these are fragile, shifting things.

When our identity is rooted in Christ, it is anchored. It doesn't deny our pain or our history, but it places them in a larger story. A story where we are loved, chosen, and free.

Practicing the Self-in-Christ

Here’s a simple spiritual-ACT practice to help you connect with this observer self, rooted in Christ:

1. Pause and Breathe

   Take a few slow breaths. Notice thoughts or emotions coming and going.

   
   

2. Name the Experience

   Say silently: “I’m noticing that I’m feeling anxious.” or “I’m having the thought that I’m not enough.”

   
   

3. Remember Who Is Noticing

   Ask: “Who is it that is noticing all this?” Notice you. Imagine Christ gently present with you in that observer space.

   
   

4. Rest in the Truth

   Repeat silently: “I am not my thoughts. I am not my feeling. I am who I am in Christ.”

   
   

You Are More Than the Storm

Self-as-context reminds us that we are not the storm of thoughts or feeling or urges or pain which swirls through us. We are the one watching the storm pass by.

And faith tells us even more: Christ is with us in the boat. He is calm in the chaos. And He reminds us, again and again, of who we truly are.

You are not your story. You are not your struggle. You are a child of God, anchored in the eternal gaze of Love.