Where is 'My True Self'? | Thinking through Takeshi Yoro's 'What It Means to Understand'

Introduction

We are often told things like, "You should value your individuality more" or "Let's develop your own personality."

But to be honest, I have always been a little confused by those words.
I thought "individuality" referred to one's way of thinking or values, but does that mean I have to force myself to create "values that are different from others"?
Or if I don't have unique ideas, does that mean I'm a "person without individuality"?

As someone who carried those vague feelings, I read Takeshi Yoro's
"What It Means to Understand" and it gave me a very big hint.

Among other things, I was truly surprised by the passage, "Individuality is the body."
"Wait? The body is individuality? Isn't it about thoughts or something?"

This time, I would like to write loosely about the meaning of "individuality" and "understanding" that I thought about through this book,
and my own realizations that helped me relax a little.

Was individuality not a "way of thinking" but the "body"?

In "What It Means to Understand," Takeshi Yoro says, "Individuality resides in the body."

Honestly, it didn't click at first. To me, individuality meant ways of thinking or values. So every time I was told to "develop my individuality," I would get a bit tense, wondering if I had to come up with unique opinions.

But this book writes that we feel we "understand" because we are in contact with the world through our bodies, and that becomes a sense unique to that person—their individuality.

For example, distinguishing people's faces, sensing the atmosphere, reacting to smells and sounds—all such sensory things are handled by the body.

Thinking about it that way, I felt a little more relaxed, thinking, "I don't have to force myself to say strange things." I am feeling the world with my own body. Just by that, I already have an "individuality" that is different from other people.

You don't have to force yourself to be "individualistic"

After reading this book, I decided to stop trying so hard to "develop my individuality."

Because if the way your own body feels and reacts—for example, what sounds are comfortable, what kind of places make you feel calm—if those things themselves are "what makes you you," then it means you already have individuality, right?

Besides, even if you have the same thoughts as someone else, it doesn't mean you are seeing the same world.
For example, even if you watch the same movie, the reason why you thought it was "interesting" is different. I've come to think that's because the way our bodies feel things is different.

When told to "be individualistic," I somehow end up thinking only about "setting myself apart from others," but
I felt that Yoro's words were telling me that it's okay to value my "natural sense as myself" rather than "a self that is different from others."

To understand is surely to "trust your own senses"

Reading "What It Means to Understand," I realized that "individuality is found within what we feel naturally."

Rather than understanding something with your head, it's about what you feel with your body—comfortable, fitting, restless, curious. It's about accepting those sensations without ignoring them.

I believe that is surely what it means to cultivate one's own 'way of understanding' and to cherish one's individuality.

You don't have to force yourself to think differently from others. You can start by simply acknowledging and feeling the 'sensations' that are unique to you.

I feel as though Mr. Yoro's words have taught me that.

Lastly, I'd like to ask you something:
Have you come across anything recently that made you think, 'That's interesting'?

Perhaps that might be the gateway to 'understanding' that your body has sensed.