Why it’s better to stop searching for your true self | Michael Puett | TEDxNashville

We are often told that to live a good life we should look within and find ourselves, learn to love and embrace ourselves, and always strive to be sincere and authentic to who we really are. But what if this emphasis on self-acceptance and being true to ourselves is limiting and even dangerous? In classical China one finds a counter-intuitive understanding of the self that challenges many of our assumptions about how to live a good life and how to become a better person.

One of the most popular courses at Harvard University, Classical Chinese Ethical and Political Theory, is taught by Michael Puett, an award-winning Harvard professor and internationally renowned scholar. Learn about the unexpected popularity of Puett's course in "The Atlantic" article, "Why Are Hundreds of Harvard Students Studying Ancient Chinese Philosophy?"(http://theatln.tc/2o1IvPU). Puett is also the co-author of the "New York Times" bestseller “The Path: What Chinese Philosophy Can Teach Us About the Good Life.” In addition, Puett is the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History in Harvard University’s Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, as well as the Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion. For his work in these departments, Puett is the proud recipient of a Harvard College Professorship for excellence in undergraduate teaching. Puett is also the author of “The Ambivalence of Creation: Debates Concerning Innovation and Artifice in Early China” and “To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Self-Divinization in Early China,” as well as the co-author of “Ritual and its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity."

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx