The Importance of Self

I feel as though so often in our search for Truth and understanding we kick the idea of self and personability to the curb. We label it illegitimate; it is as if subjectivity is the plague. Our brains are trained to automatically reject any personal anecdotes or experiences when in an academic setting. This is due to years of being preached to about factual evidence and the importance of objective truth which has caused us to devalue the truth found in the people around us. We have come to believe objectivity is more important than subjectivity, when in reality they are both important, just in separate settings. How are we to learn about ourselves as a people through a purely objective lens? 

            I believe stories are essential in this process. Stories are how we communicate who we are, what we believe, and what we want our lives to look like. It is hearing from other people that helps us to alter our world view, lifestyle, attitude, etc. Everyone has those moments when another human being shares something that causes one’s mind to stop and think, Wow I can’t look at [fill in the blank] the same again. It didn’t require facts; it didn’t require a presentation with fancy graphs and data points that no one understands; all it took was a simple story in order to radically change another person. What better way is there to learn about human beings than by hearing from human beings about human beings?  

            Autoethnography is just one vehicle that allows us human beings to educate one another about ourselves. We can learn truth (with a little “t”) from autoethnographic work and it is still Truth regardless of whether there is science behind it. It is through autoethnography that we can relearn how to value personability and educate ourselves based on the self.