What Happens to Your Brain When You Stop Expressing Yourself? | The Philosophy of Osamu Dazai

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If I had met him, I would have recommended he read Deleuze and Guattari: to really critically reexamine the idea that each of us is a coherent self, that there is some "authentic self" lying foundationally underlying all the social/cultural/environmental/biological/genetic influences which shape our identities. In the kind of plural, fragmented, multinodal, rhizomatic world they paint, the concept just evaporates. Sometimes just searching for this "authentic self" is itself what creates anxiety and neurosis, and getting rid of that concept itself can be tremendously liberating and therapeutic. Who said we are some coherent, stable, unchanging self? Our identities are always dynamic and fragmented, shaped out of a cacophony of chaotic forces coming together contingently- with many forces and pulls and draws that are often directly contradictory. The best we can do is try to juggle and navigate between them- but this insistence that underneath all this there is a stable, unchanging, permanent, "authentic" self waiting to be found- we can dispense with that idea with a light and carefree laugh, and just enjoy life and muddle through as best we can. Perfect is the enemy of good. No need to overthink things too much.

sounds like you are talking about me this is so relatable to my childhood

I hate being the next Elvis :(… yet born in the wrong decade wanting rap hip hop Ai and computer beats, woops that was lisa Pressley's son benji
…ok, me2 also living in this decade now, yet caught the tail end and born in the right decade and cheated as if that was the future.
… but since everything is backwards now, i hate being rich winning the lotto ever time i play, and having to many real friends and women harping at my beckoning call 🙂 in real love that never fades away – and with that $$$ i reinvented the internet that communicates to loss love ones – and a tesla like device that pulls the eons from the partical waves for endless electric – another to pull water from the air and turn the desserts into oasis – to benefit mankind and more progresses that could had been, like using that free electric energy and water for a 3 D printable food simulator if only, progress had moved forward instead of been cheated n made n forced to be the villain due to politics ego and greed..
…yet there is that hope, and written it will be this way again soon, when the lion shall lay down by the lamb, err wolf..for 1k yrs

No you

😮😮😮😮

This is one of the most psychologically accurate observations about how

identity actually works.

What Dazai is describing is the self-fulfilling prophecy of the **narrative

self**. Here's the mechanism:

**1. You internalize hatred for a specific trait ("I'm lazy," "I'm weak,"

"I'm unlovable")**

*2. This becomes part of your identity story.* Your brain now filters

everything through this narrative. You interpret neutral actions as evidence:

"See? I am lazy."

*3. Memory reconsolidation kicks in.* Every time you remember moments that

"prove" this about yourself, your brain rewrites the memory with MORE emotional

weight, cementing the belief.

*4. You become what you hate because your narrative self is now built on it.*

But here's the neuroscience most people miss: **You're not actually "becoming"

it—you're reinforcing a story your brain created.** The more you hate the trait,

the more you ruminate about it, the more your brain treats it as "true" and

reinforces it through memory reconsolidation.

**The paradox Dazai identifies is real, but it's not philosophical—it's

neurological.**

The solution isn't acceptance or self-love platitudes. It's understanding that:

– The trait you hate isn't fixed—it's a narrative your brain constructed

– Every time you ruminate about it with shame/hate, you're strengthening it

– You can rewrite the narrative from "I AM lazy" to "I have patterns of

avoidance that I'm learning to understand"

That shift—from identity to pattern—breaks the cycle because it removes the

emotional reinforcement that memory reconsolidation relies on.

I made a detailed video on exactly these mechanisms: how your narrative self

gets constructed, why you become what you hate about yourself (through

rumination and memory reconsolidation), and how to actually rewrite it:

https://youtu.be/qdSPPGZiuHg

This is the psychological architecture behind Dazai's paradox—and understanding

it is what allows people to actually escape the trap.

I can’t express how much I love your videos!

I have listened to the audio of your videos for over a year now, and I'm not sure if I have ever noticed that you actually do a face-to-face video shot! It's interesting to put a face to The voice, and I'm just so grateful that you're a real person! Thank you for all of your hard work and effort and sharing these videos with us.

Thank you for this one, kid.

I might be Yozo

Makes a lot of sense but Japanese culture isn't individualistic and is also introvert a big advantage .The same repeated in the West is just as horrible but in the extrovert individualist Liberal way . Who you are becomes another crushing yoke . Just as alone terrified sick waiting for the same end in all the banality of daily performance even as a total recluse the persecution of the world and the specificity of who I am became trapped in horrible. Even simple things suddenly become pure torture. In a world of monsters .

i guess i should read this book. Wonder if i ever will?

if ur channel dies – i die, thank you

I hope this reads you well. I have watched a plethora of your videos and I think they have stimulated me in a way no other communicative options have. I adore your writing and the stylistic choices you make in your videos. My only concern is you placing yourself in the videos themselves. I do not have any qualms with your looks, structure, or insertion points in the video. I do believe they add a true value and personality to your videos. My concern is it takes away from the style of your videos in a way that is minimally distracting. The way I perceive all of your videos is as if someone is talking through individual thought and expression, not a conversation. The addition of you individually creates a minimal phenomenon of conversational tone. Rather than the intent a fluid thought it breaks apart the direct communication line and adds an additional layer. A human layer. While I have seen your videos as to why you add yourself (due to ever present ai) I would also like to add the consideration of how it interacts with a foundation you have created. I have no issue if you continue to utilize yourself in the future but I also think to bring the original feel it would be unique to have some videos not include a physical attachment. I truly support you and I have subscribe to you across multiple accounts over the years. I am just asking the minor consideration and understanding that some may have an attachment to the style of no tangible presence to your videos. Much love man and keep up the beautiful work you have accomplished. I think you are one of a kind and hopes this message reads you well. Thank you

Great video, as always.
May I ask for a favor?
To find a way to record that doesn't pick up mouth clicks,
maybe there is something you can configure or tweak before the recording starts.
Thanks.

Oh, bro has a face!

Yozo sounds pretty autistic. I mean this as someone who is diagnosed with autism. I could related to almost everything he thought and experienced in many ways.

As someone with mental illness and a lifelong outsider I refer to others as 'normals' and they find that extremely offensive, but that's how they're referred to in the scientific literature, obviously as the controls to gauge the crazy. Each snowflake is unique but from a distance they all look the same.

I hate the changing of titles to see what gets the most clicks. It really is about getting two clicks, wasting the viewers' time as they realize they've heard the video already. I never listen or upvote when I see it. See it too much I unsub. One subscriber loss doesn't matter, but others might do the same. Don't abuse your audience.

And everyone is… unique. As unique as their DNA, fingerprints, you name it!

So it sounds like he had Asperger's Syndrome. Probably not the easiest condition to live with, especially in a hyper conformist society like Japan. And I imagine the chaos of post-war Japan would've made it hard for him to find any kind of meaningful help, especially for a then little understood condition.

Functioning in society often feels like a compromise, but there are many good moments to do or say something authentic. If you like to change the way of the world it is even necesary.