Who Actually Am I

Living Happy Extra

Photo by Sandra Seitamaa on Unsplash

Is there a true self?

Harvard University professor Michael Puett doesn’t think so.

Pruett has a book,The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life, co-written by Christine Gross-Loh.

The summary for the book says,

“These astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities.”

Pruett told the Huffington Post that a lot of his students think that they have all their college years to figure out their talents and who they are.

He told the Post, "What they find in practice is that it's a fruitless search."

Wow, right? It’s such a different approach than so many of us have on life and self. Puett teaches anthropology at Harvard and to him, Confucius, Xunzi and Laozi, all believe that the whole idea of true self?

It should be thrown away, trashed, incinerated.