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I'm skeptical too. Keep searching for your "true self" and you may not find anything there. Like a hurricane, it has a name, a shape, tendencies, but can appe

I'm skeptical too. Keep searching for your "true self" and you may not find anything there. Like a hurricane, it has a name, a shape, tendencies, but can appear and fade away into material substrate. While we might say the hurricane has a personality, it's affected by the conditions around it (wind, temperature, etc...). We get angry when our life is threatened and we get angry when the ego is threatened, but was that upset ego you? Or was it a reflection of shape of the comments directed at it? Who are you?

wavefunction 9y ago
Anthropomorphization of hurricanes is not exactly evidence that there is nothing at the center of human beings. It's simply an analogy and analogies are by their nature imperfect and inexact. If that projection of hurricane weather phenomena appeals to you as a model for human existence, it may speak more to your own understanding of human existence rather than the reverse. There appear to be some universal aspects of human existence: joy, hope, longing, loneliness, happiness, anger, melancholy. Needs for acceptance and belonging, external purpose beyond eating and excreting. To say that there is nothing there at the center of our selves cannot be accurate, in my mind.
thegabez 9y ago
True self, is not some alternative universe you need to connect with, it literally means being true and authentic to yourself. Its your actions aligning with the values and beliefs you've managed to collect over your lifetime. When you meet someone who is authentic, you can just sense it.
jklinger410 9y ago
I find you will have better results thinking about what has MADE you the way that you are, rather than trying to FIND what you are. Learning about how my childhood has affected my adult psyche has been more revealing than trying to find some static inner "me." I think your "you" is nebulous and ever changing. I would go as far as to say relative and situational, even. But you can learn about your patterns of thought by reverse engineering them, both in real-time and historically. If you do this enough you will find a pattern that you can define as yourself. Then it turns into a game of playing to that pattern's strengths and stress-testing it for growth.
lbotos 9y ago
I've always thought of "true self" as the intersection between: + Who other's think you are + Who you think you are + Who you actually are If all three of those are in harmony, you've found "your true self." Nothing more, nothing less.

wavefunction 9y ago

Anthropomorphization of hurricanes is not exactly evidence that there is nothing at the center of human beings. It's simply an analogy and analogies are by their nature imperfect and inexact. If that projection of hurricane weather phenomena appeals to you as a model for human existence, it may speak more to your own understanding of human existence rather than the reverse. There appear to be some universal aspects of human existence: joy, hope, longing, loneliness, happiness, anger, melancholy. Needs for acceptance and belonging, external purpose beyond eating and excreting. To say that there is nothing there at the center of our selves cannot be accurate, in my mind.

thegabez 9y ago

True self, is not some alternative universe you need to connect with, it literally means being true and authentic to yourself. Its your actions aligning with the values and beliefs you've managed to collect over your lifetime. When you meet someone who is authentic, you can just sense it.

jklinger410 9y ago

I find you will have better results thinking about what has MADE you the way that you are, rather than trying to FIND what you are. Learning about how my childhood has affected my adult psyche has been more revealing than trying to find some static inner "me." I think your "you" is nebulous and ever changing. I would go as far as to say relative and situational, even. But you can learn about your patterns of thought by reverse engineering them, both in real-time and historically. If you do this enough you will find a pattern that you can define as yourself. Then it turns into a game of playing to that pattern's strengths and stress-testing it for growth.

lbotos 9y ago

I've always thought of "true self" as the intersection between: + Who other's think you are + Who you think you are + Who you actually are If all three of those are in harmony, you've found "your true self." Nothing more, nothing less.