† you . me . us †
The existential question of self-identity is bound up with the fragile nature of the biography which the individual `supplies' about herself. A person's identity is not to be found in behaviour, nor -- important though this is -- in the reactions of others, but in the capacity to keep a particular narrative going. The individual's biography, if she is to maintain regular interaction with others in the day-to-day world, cannot be wholly Active. It must continually integrate events which occur in the external world, and sort them into the ongoing `story' about the self. As Charles Taylor puts it, `In order to have a sense of who we are, we have to have a notion of how we have become, and of where we are going.' 24 There is surely an unconscious aspect to this chronic `work', perhaps organised in a basic way through dreams. Dreaming may very well represent an unconscious selection and discarding of memories, which proceeds at the end of every day.
† instagram @mikexavier †
