To identify with an object is to give it control over you

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question (Q): One of your quotes says, “If you are identified with an object, you have given it control over yourself. This control itself will prevent you from being free from identification.”

Does it mean that once you are identified with an object you can’t be free from this identification?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Not as long as you believe yourself to be the identified entity. End of belief comes from an observation of belief.

Q: OK. And observation I suppose will come from reflection, introspection, and meditation.

AP: No, observation is just observation. Coming in total contact with something without greed, fear, or effect of the past, without analysis or speculation. Total contact.

Q: Does observation happen by itself only, or can we do it by conscious effort as well?

AP: We can do nothing about observation, as observation is not an object that can be worked upon. We can, however, remove the barriers that we ourselves have raised. The faculty of attention is always available. The mind bars it by beliefs, opinions, and objectives.