For Oscar-winning movie director Sydney Pollack, the
search for self-knowledge was a continuing process. “There’s a
sort of monologue or dialogue going on in my head all the
time,” he said. “Some of it’s part of a fantasy life, some is ex-
ploratory. Sometimes I can trick myself into problem-solving
by imagining myself talking about problem-solving. If I don’t
know the answer to something, I imagine being asked the ques-
tion in my head. Faulkner said, ‘I don’t know what I think until
I read what I said.’ That’s not just a joke. You learn what you
think by codifying your thinking in some way.”
That’s absolutely true. Codifying one’s thinking is an im-
portant step in inventing oneself. The most difficult way to
do it is by thinking about thinking—it helps to speak or write
your thoughts. Writing is the most profound way of codify-
ing your thoughts, the best way of learning from yourself
who you are and what you believe.
Newspaper executive Gloria Anderson added, “It’s vital for
people to develop their own sense of themselves and their role
in the world, and it’s equally vital for them to try new things,
to test themselves and their beliefs and principles. I think we
long for people who will stand up for what they believe, even
if we don’t agree with them, because we have confidence in
such people.”
Scientist Mathilde Krim agreed. “One must be a good ex-
plorer and a good listener, too, to take in as much as possible
but not swallow anything uncritically. One must finally trust
his own gut reactions,” she said. “A value system, beliefs, are
important so you know where you stand, but they must be your
own values, not someone else’s.”
If knowing yourself and being yourself were as easy to do as
to talk about, there wouldn’t be nearly so many people walkingUnderstanding the Basics0465014088_01.qxd:0738208175_01.qxd 1/9/09 1:24 PM Page 45