In this episode Dara is looking into the void and trying not to feel frightened. Thinking about the construction of identity and personality, he is curious about how comfortable or not we are with what lies beneath. He asks if you can handle being left alone with yourself.
He argues for coming to peace with oneself and entering into a state of acceptance of what he calls the unnamed being that may lurk under the surface. He acknowledges that he is not speaking from a position of blissed-out serenity and discusses his strategic template for negotiating his lifelong skirmishes with depression.
Dara posits that titles, careers and professions are things that we do, but even if vocational, are not necessarily an indication of who we are. He explains why someone’s job is often the thing he finds least interesting about them. In the most extreme cases he suspects that the removal of role or occupation results in the erasure of self. So what can be done to fill that void?
He lays out the value of the subjective perspective as a means of personal assertion and validated separation from the white noise of 21st century existence, but is quick to add that it is an individualistic strategy that is not an individualistic philosophy. Ultimately, if the battle within can be won, the battles without will be that much less daunting!