Dan Canvell

I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a true self Suppose you want to eat ice cream but you’re overweight, so you know you shouldn’t. If you control yourself, which is the true self, the one craving ice cream or the one saying, “Don’t eat it”? Your true self is what you do in any given moment If you ate the ice cream, your true self in that moment would be the foolish self. If you resisted and didn’t eat it, your true self would be the wise self Moreover, we are always fluid You’re a different person when hungry versus when satisfied, when sick versus when healthy. You act differently with friends than with your mother, with your boss than with your girlfriend, or in front of a beautiful woman versus an unattractive one People constantly adjust their behavior based on the situation So, which is your true self? Is it how you behave when alone? I don’t think so. Everything of consequence happens when you’re not alone We’re always optimizing for the best outcome in any situation, adjusting our thoughts and behavior accordingly Therefore, I believe there’s no such thing as a true self. Your true self is how you behave in any given moment—that’s the only indicator. And it keeps changing