care

At the core of human being . . . is a rift within the individual between what it is and what it is not. A self thrown into the flux and flow of human time, the obligations and expectations of a life, the ideals and aspirations of desire, the finitude and contingency that structures dread and anxiety. A self at odds with itself. A self that is never completely itself. Hence, a twofold, tension-filled movement: not wanting to be what you are and wanting to be something else. Today, a whole panoply of more modern, more sensible approaches tackle the same dilemma: self-help, self-improvement, working through, optimizing, personal best, you are your own guru, each self a work in progress—all of it structured by what one is not. Perhaps we struggle to become the person who will simply accept who we are.