When Michelangelo carved David, he regarded it as an exercise of discovery, revealing the eventual form as part of that process.
When I hear that, I think of the term “self-discovery”. People often talk about “finding themselves”. But personally, I’ve usually thought of my personality as something I build myself, not as something that exists in an ideal form that needs to be discovered.
Which is right? Do we discover ourselves or do we build ourselves?
could it be both?
Before we dive too deep into the question, we should first ask whether this is a false dichotomy. Can’t you both discover who you are and build yourself into who you want to be?
Well… that’s fair. I don’t want to use this post as a means of denying to people the way they develop their identities. That said, I do think there’s a level at which the two are fundamentally contradictory. You can participate in both activities, but I think at root I favor one over the other.
discovering yourself
There’s a level to which people can discover themselves when they discover new activities or interests that they love. One could look at the personality-developing process from this viewpoint, constantly looking for new things and ideas to find more to fill your identity with.
I think, though, that when you look deeper, it’s still you making the root decision of what to incorporate or not. If I discover an idea for a story I want to write, I decide how much of my identity I want to tie to that story. If I discover a new hobby, it’s my decision whether to make that hobby an important part of me or just a pastime.
building yourself
Admittedly, I do have a bias towards the concept of independence and free will that may make the concept of building your own identity more appealing.
That said, I think there’s a fundamental level at which it is true for me at least, that I make intentional choices about who I want to be, then live out those choices to adopt them.
maybe each person picks
Well, I thought I had abandoned the “maybe both are true” idea, but in reality I think all I’ve rejected is the idea that both can be fully true for the same person. That doesn’t mean that because I work hard to build my identity others aren’t working hard to discover who they are.
At root, this is similar to the “nature or nurture” question. Personally I favor the idea that positive treatment and intentionality can build a better result. After all, I went so far as to adapt the idea of Eternalism into a seven-dimensional model so that it could still support free will. I may be crazy, but it’s a crazy I like.
In the end, I don’t know. For myself, I believe that I build my own identity more than I discover it. You may be different. In either case, I’d love to hear your thoughts. My email is below.
(P.S.: Please excuse any incoherency in this; it is way past my bedtime.)
