"In an age where there is much talk about "being yourself" I reserve to myself the right to forget about being myself, since in any case there is very little chance of my being anybody else. Rather, it seems to me that when one is too intent on "being himself" he runs the risk of impersonating a shadow."
- Thomas Merton
As someone deeply distrustful of the introspective directions which much popular culture seems to go (all the books on "finding yourself" etc), I like this very much.
It is interesting that the Aborigine "Walkabout", while a journey to find oneself, does not do it by contemplating one's navel (or any other part of the human anatomy) but by actively doing something else, in such a way that you need to lose yourself in the action, before you can meet yourself.
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