How the Great Zen Master and Peace Activist Thich Nhat Hanh Found Himself and Lost His Self in a Library Epiphany

Western psychology places major importance on building a sense of self or ego. Buddhism, in contrast, places major importance on letting go of the illusion of a freestanding, fixed solid self. These views seem contradictory until we…

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meaningful identity, belonging, and purpose found in materialism (I am what I have), consumerism (I am meant to acquire), perfectionism (I am what I do), rationalism (I am the final word), stoicism (I am unaffected by you), romanticism (I am my emotions), hedonism (I am my greatest pleasure), or postmodernism (I am what I say I am).

Adopting a healthy scepticism towards inherited ideas means “emptying the container of the Self”, or perhaps exercising a kind of trained “forgetting” of that which is extraneous to the essential self. In this state, we become less prone to partaking in the superfluous occupations we impose upon ourselves to cope with the weight of social expectat