Be Yourself
On a recent visit to IKEA, the labyrinthine Swedish furniture megastore, I was greeted with a message repeated twelve times on the entrance staircase: “Be yourself.”
Knowing who you are and being true to yourself has never been more important than in the twenty-first century West. They are seen as signs of good mental health and well-being and the keys to authentic living and true happiness.
Of course, to be yourself, you must know yourself. Most people today believe that there is only one place to look to find yourself, and that is inwards. The New York Times columnist David Brooks observes that “when you are figuring out how to lead your life, people today feel that the most important answers are found deep inside yourself.” In our day, personal identity is a do-it-yourself project.
Two Dr. Taylors agree. The Canadian philosopher Dr. Charles Taylor notes that “modern freedom and autonomy centers us on ourselves, and the ideal of authenticity requires that we discover and articulate our own identity.”
Dr. Taylor Swift, receiving her honorary doctorate from New York University in 2022, intoned: “We are so many things, all the time. And I know it can be overwhelming figuring out who to be. I have some good news: it’s totally up to you. I also have some terrifying news: it’s totally up to you.”
Is looking inside yourself to find yourself a good idea? Is the responsibility of figuring out who to be both a good and terrifying prospect? Before examining the fruit of this near universal, recent cultural phenomenon, it is worth exploring its roots.
Brian S. Rosner is the author of How to Find Yourself: Why Looking Inward Is Not the Answer