The Birth of Self

May 1, 2025 | By Emma Ventresca BF ‘26

Transformation is a “coming into” ourselves, a metamorphosis rather than discrete change that fundamentally alters who we are. In the words of philosopher and theologian Karl Rahner, “True 'becoming' must be conceived as something 'becoming more', as the coming into being of more reality, as an effective attainment of a greater fullness of being.” What it means to ‘become’ oneself “must be understood as a real self-transcendence, a surpassing of self or active filling up of the empty.”