ABSTRACT
Is it that there is some essential self inside us that we need to put into words? If that were so, why would we ever need to tell ourselves about ourselves-or why would there be such injunctions as “Know thyself” or “To thine own self be true.” Surely, if our selves were transparent to us, we would have no need to tell ourselves about them. Yet we spend a good deal of time doing just that, either alone, or vicariously at the psychiatrist’s, or at confession if we are believers. So what function does such self-telling serve?
