The myth of Narcissus tells us about an illusion. That we can find the self in ourselves. This myth can become ostentatious, but it’s also searching. It’s the lifelong lie of the average western human. We still fully believe in autonomy, even though it’s mass produced: Be yourself. Create yourself. Love yourself. Be yourself. Think different. This kind of grandiose “life wisdom” is really just existential impossibilities – since no one is themselves without the other.
The 2000s human is ashamed of its mimesis. We don’t want to know the fact that we adapt to the other people in the room, their stares and mannerisms. […] We become our self, in a room between ourselves and others, not alone and inside ourselves. In this quite specific way we grow out of each other. We humans create each other, all the time.
ekko, lena lindgren (my translation)
