Dec 21, 2009
Finding Yourself
Your authentic self, who you really are or ought to be, isn’t given. It’s not going to come up to you some day, armed with a baseball bat, and bash you over the head. You have to go out into the world and become who you are.
This is not to say that there is not an authentic self in you, waiting to be discovered. It’s just that you can’t find that self through contemplation and introspection alone. When you go out into the world, some projects or people or activities will be a better fit. Some will be worse. It’s your job to recognize that, and have the courage to change course.
And the “authentic” self is just a kernel, a set of potentialities. It’s real. As given, it has meaning and direction. However, that authentic self only acquires shape as you create who you are. Your palette and knife are experience, action, encounters, duties and obligations assumed, relationships forged, risks taken, losses felt.
Are you up to the challenge?