Good Morning!

Happy Monday, everyone. The boulder’s at the bottom of the hill. Pushing it is your opportunity to defy the absurdity of the task.

I had a conversation over the weekend about the self, so I started digging a little bit into it. This week is going to be all about the self in everyday life.

Today, we’re going to talk about the examined self and introspection with the help of Michel de Montaigne. Burning that off, we’re going to do an observation exercise. Wrapping it up with our Book Nook, we’re going to steal a quote from Montaigne’s Essays.

Welcome to the week. Thought Breakfast is served!

For the past few weeks, we’ve been asking big questions about meaning. Montaigne gives us the opportunity to turn inward. He doesn’t build any systems or even chase certainty. Instead, Montaigne writes essays as experiments (observations of himself in real time). I personally like his style because it makes philosophy personal, imperfect, and alive.

Montaigne refuses the idea of a finished identity. The self is a liquid thing; it changes with mood, circumstance, and time. Rather than forcing consistency, he encourages us to watch ourselves in motion. Identity, then, becomes something observed rather than constructed through rigid ideals.

Montaigne studies himself not with the goal of becoming flawless, but with the goal of becoming honest. Self-knowledge replaces self-optimization here. Self-examination should always be something that is curious instead of judgmental. Reflection, too, should be an act of humility rather than control or planning.

Everyday life gives us opportunities for reflection. Eating, walking, talking, and boredom are all things that could be expanded on to better understand the self. Coming back to meaning; it’s not hidden behind everyday life, but revealed through attention to the most ordinary of experiences.

So the point is: pay attention to yourself without immediately trying (or wishing) to improve yourself. Eliminate the should and should not aspect of self-reflection, and watch your understanding of yourself grow.

For a single moment today, try this:

Ask yourself:

Write down one honest observation you made, and try not to judge it as good or bad.

“I am myself the matter of my book.”
— Michel de Montaigne

Simple enough…

This one sentence actually captures Montaigne’s entire project. Rather than objectively trying to make a standard to live by that would be good for all humans, he does something else.

He makes a shift from abstract philosophy to lived self-reflection. It’s a method anyone can use at any time. Of course, it’s hard to reflect without judging. We all have not only material goals but also moral goals. Everyone reading this likely has a moral ideal that they’d want to live up to, which makes reflection an “Am I doing this right?” question. Try not to ask that question.

Munch on that for today. Before you can judge yourself, you have to actually know yourself first. Have a great Monday and come on back tomorrow for another steaming hot plate of Thought Breakfast!

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Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.

Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast