Seeking singularity in a social setting?

In the stage version of Les Miserables, the complicated question “Who am I” is embodied in the character Jean Valjean, and echoes the refrain begun by Renee Descartes. Are we, as individuals, simply defined by our actions or thoughts? Can we be summarized by names and labels? Or is our identity solidified by our position in society (i.e. our relationships relative to others)? The Valjean character was once a thief, who creates a new persona and later becomes Mayor. But as a prisoner he was labeled with a number #24601—as if less than human. This compelling drama remains relevant in modern western culture, as our drive for independence is tempered by our need to belong. We seek to belong to groups with elite membership, whether that drive is manifest in the literature we read, the clothing we wear, the assets we accumulate, or the beliefs and value structures we espouse. In each of these endeavors, one thing remains constant – the drive for achievement, and the desire to demarcate have from have not. Hegel correctly adduced that a master and servant relationship is the undercurrent of the human psyche. The lecture emphasizes the irony of minorities seeking to be accepted by the majority while, at the same time, losing their traditions in the quest to assimilate. Perhaps this too is a manifestation of the parable of Plato’s cave – it is difficult to leave ones comfort zone and pre-existing frame of reference in the search for truth – and if the personal pursuit of knowledge is man’s divine quest, who is authorized to judge anyone by the speed at which he/she acquires knowledge? Does not each set his own pace according to his individual vision, emotional/intellectual assets, and experience? Is it possible that our modern secularist, materialistic and empiricist Western frame of reference constitutes a kind of prison, in itself, which makes us haughty, culturally insensitive, and unappreciative of those points of view we consider superstitious, simplistic or oppressive? It is very difficult to imagine life outside of our own particular cave and so easy to judge those whose histories and conditions are so different from our own (though they may be dwelling in a neighboring cave). And what we imagine to be higher order thinking (a glimpse of the light beyond) may only be a rarified, abstract version of quite ordinary values arising out of our own cultural and historical experience. True enlightenment must be something entirely other from ordinary human experience and quite beyond the reach of most, if not all of us.