@kennethamy,
kennethamy;156503 wrote:You identify with a planet? How do you do that? You don't think you are a planet, do you?
I feel at one with it.
"identify (verb used with an object): to associate in
name, feeling, interest, action, etc. (usually fol. by with): He preferred not to identify himself with that group." ------- Dictionary.com
The above is the meaning of 'to identify with' that is relevant here. I and that planet are in the
same universe, one in which I feel at home. The observation I made of the planet once through a telescope is a part of my personal experience, and is thus, in a sense, a part of my life. Of course not everything I identify with is identical with me; that should be obvious.
The closest dictionary meaning here would be: "...to associate in interest...". What I give my focused attention to I am starting to identify with, starting to bond with, in a sense. The process was called by Husserl "Intentionaality." Robert S. Hartman dubbed it: Intrinsic valuation.
What I intrinsically value I form a continuum with; and in a sense I am giving myself to it.
I
value Saturn as a
beautiful segment of nature to behold. "Beauty" may be defined as: "the Intrinsic valuation of things."
Is this clear? Has it helped?