Identity is divided on the one hand into a foundation which is within us without which we can derive any particular merit, our nature and the education (culture) we have received, and a constitutive movement of life which discovers elements which are not listed by our nature or our education, but which must be read at the level of our nature and our education.
Much of this process unfolds without us even having to think about it. Yet it is essential, fundamental, and compels us to constantly re-evaluate our nature and our upbringing, as well as these new elements, through the lens of our nature and our culture.
Balance is essential: being at the crossroads of our nature and our culture. This implies knowing them both well. There's no question of forgetting, or worse, being unaware of our nature, of forgetting, or worse, losing the benefits of our upbringing, to venture into the realm of novelty, or we will be nothing more than a tattered flag in the wind. We will have no criteria for judging novelty and we risk seeing it only as novelty, and becoming infatuated with it for that reason. There is no knowledge outside of ourselves that can escape the filter of our nature and our culture.
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