In Search of the True Self

The Self is an interdisciplinary topic encompassing neuroscience, psychology, philos- ophy, and anthropology. Despite the wealth of data available on the topic, its definition remains elusive, while its meaning overlaps with terms such as consciousness, Ego, and I, and so has created more confusion and redundancy rather than clarity. Its study is also endowed with deep epistemological and metaphysical implications, on which the accepted axioms, theories, and method of investigation closely depend. Eastern phi- losophies have faced the problem of self-knowledge for some three millennia, achiev- ing well-founded and valuable knowledge through introspection and meditation, and their results are worth being appraised in the Western, scientific study of the Self. We propose that the Self is related to the highest level of awareness in the continuum Ego-I-Self and, given its exclusively subjective nature (likewise consciousness), it can only be comprehensively explored through a neurophenomenological approach by merging the first and third person perspectives.