“Become who you are.”
An ancient formula that has become our greatest mystery:
Does this mean that I have not yet become who I truly am?
As I emphasize in my essay, the real question is this one—absurd and fundamental.
That is where the farce lies. We are already ourselves, and yet we spend our lives defending ourselves against it. We are a work in progress, whose artist (our neocortex, that joyful, ever-evolving puzzle) is constantly contradicted by the critic (our emotional brain, the invisible master of our lives).
The courage of deconstruction
In our obsessive quest for the “authentic self,” we forget the most painful—and most necessary—step: deconstruction.
The odyssey toward oneself is not about “finding” a hidden truth, but about mustering the small courage required to let go of what we no longer are. Letting go of the beliefs that weigh us down. Letting go of the habits that condition us (that infamous notification “ding” that makes us jump like Pavlov’s dog).
Freedom, that chimera, is above all an act of disobedience. Disobedience to social expectations—but above all, disobedience to oneself.
Who is really at the controls of our decisions? That is the question we constantly ask ourselves. Often, the answer is simple: habit. Habit is what keeps us trapped in the “former self.”
If “Become who you are” is nothing more than a slogan, it at least has the merit of reminding us that existence is a permanent act of betrayal—a betrayal of who we once were.
So the next time you come across this phrase, don’t look for a guide. Look for a mirror and ask yourself: “What am I refusing to let go of today?”
That is where the odyssey begins.
This article is inspired by the ideas developed in the essay Will in Motion: How emotion and Reason shape. To explore in greater depth the mechanisms behind the illusion of reality and freedom, click here.
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