What is the self-knowing and the self-creating person in this paragraph?n what does Gergen mean?

Question

The self-knowing and the self-creating person are of course only abstractions; a person will always be an interesting combination of the two. Both viewpoints, nevertheless, contain the assumption that the self is independent and unitary (“one”). Yet in the twenty first century we have multiple roles, are members of many communities, and express a variety of personas, so our experience is of complexity. Where does self-help fit int such a context?

In this book the saturated self Kenneth Gergen suggested that the old idea of the unitary self has had to evolve to take accunt of our many-mindedness, or what he called the ‘multiphrenic personality.”

Answer 1

Gergen is the author's last name (The Saturated Self). You need to read his book to fully understand the concepts; but, in short the self-knowing person is fully aware of self, talents, limitations and lives within that knowledge. Can be self-wisdom or self-defeating and limiting. The self-creating person stretches that knowledge and does not consider it limiting, but opportunity for growth. The downside of the self-creating person is when that person "poses" in a role rather than fully growing into the persona.