On a trip to Russia I bought one of those Matryoshka "nested dolls" that break apart at the waist to reveal smaller and smaller dolls inside…it occurred to me to me later that each of us, like the nested dolls, contains multiple selves, making us a mysterious combination of good and evil, wisdom and folly, reason and instinct… {pp.80}
During a visit to Russia, I purchased a Matryoshka doll, a traditional nested doll that opens to reveal smaller figures inside. This experience led me to reflect on the idea that, similar to these dolls, each person contains multiple selves, hidden within and layered over one another.
As I considered this, I realized that we are complex beings composed of various qualities—good and evil, wisdom and folly, reason and instinct—making us inherently mysterious. This layered nature of our identity suggests that understanding ourselves involves recognizing these multiple, sometimes conflicting, aspects.
