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Identification (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠unconscious imitation — the son adopting all the father's ways as though he were the father and not a separate person.

Identification (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a crutch that becomes a fetter: helpful while one cannot go one's own way, it turns into a hindrance as great as the help once a better way appears.

Identification (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠attach to one's best function, producing a secondary character while one's true individuality falls into the unconscious — a necessary stage on the way to individuation.

Identification (n.) always ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠has a purpose: to gain an advantage, push aside an obstacle, or solve a task the way someone else would.

Identification (n.) turns ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the chameleon-like psyche into what it values: the lover identifies with the beloved, the primitive with his totem, the saint receives the stigmata — and in the imitatio Christi it is exalted into a principle.

Identification (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠occur only on the basis of some unrealized, unconscious similarity.

Identification (n.) when ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠unconscious has power precisely because it is closed to insight or correction.

Identification (n.) was ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠Faust's sin — with the thing to be transformed — and Nietzsche's: his ego with Zarathustra, the superhuman part struggling into consciousness. Is God dead, or has he come back as the superman?

Identification (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠produce a borrowed illness: a recruit, orphaned and raised by an uncle, felt his kidney pains the day the uncle wrote he was ill again — once he wept for the feared loss, he rejoined the ranks.

Identification (n.) with ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the substance happened to the artifex unawares: as he heated it in the furnace he underwent the same fiery torment and purification morally, having projected himself into it.

Identification (n.) with ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the archetype tempts a man to claim all its good while seeing its blackness only in projection, "the woman gave me of the tree"; but no ego, however swollen, should take on all of Adam's heights and depths.

Identification (n.) worked ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠silently in the stout man who could not recall “with a white sheet” in the fir-tree poem: he had identified himself with the tree in its shroud.