#Self Definition

Why the Self Eludes Precise Definition

Alan Watts’ image is immediately disarming: trying to bite your own teeth is not merely difficult, it is structurally incoherent. The teeth are the instrument of biting, so turning them into the object being bitten creat...

Define Yourself Before the World Does

The proverb begins with a blunt warning: if you don’t articulate who you are, other people will do it for you. In everyday life, that labeling can be subtle—“quiet,” “difficult,” “gifted,” “unreliable”—but once applied,...

Defining Yourself Before the World Defines You

Audre Lorde’s line frames identity not as a luxury, but as a form of protection. To “define myself for myself” implies active authorship—choosing one’s meanings, boundaries, and values rather than inheriting them passive...