I And Me Theory Quotes

“According to Mead, the self is an ongoing process combining the "I" and the "me". The "I" is the spontaneous, driving force that fosters all that is novel, unpredictable, and unorganized in the self. For those of you intrigued with brain hemisphere research, the "I" is akin to right-brain creativity. We know little about the "I" because it's forever elusive. Trying to examine the "I" part of the self is like viewing a snowflake through a lighted microscope. The very act causes it to vanish. Put another way, you can never know your "I", because once it is known it becomes your "me".
The "me" is viewed as an object- the image of self seen in the looking glass of other people's reactions. [...] the role-taking capacity of the human race, we can stand outside our bodies and view ourselves as objects. [...] Mead described the process this way: If the 'I' speaks, the 'me' hears. And 'the I' of this moment is present in the 'me' of the next moment.”
― Em Griffin, A First Look at Communication Theory