In his book *[12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos][1]* (Peterson, 2018) has following quote: > If you will not **reveal** yourself to others, you cannot reveal yourself > to yourself. That does not only mean that you suppress who you are, > although it also means that. It means that so much of what you could > be will never be forced by necessity to come forward. This is a > biological truth, as well as a conceptual truth. When you explore > boldly, when you voluntarily confront the unknown, you gather > information and build your renewed self out of that information. That > is the conceptual element. However, researchers have recently > discovered that new genes in the central nervous system turn > themselves on when an organism is placed (or places itself) in a new situation. These genes code for new proteins. These proteins are the building blocks for new structures in the brain. This means that a lot of you is still nascent, in the most physical of senses, and will not be called forth by stasis. You have to say something, go somewhere and do things to get turned on. I am puzzled what he means by word **reveal** above? why would you not want to reveal (whatever he means) yourself? Can you give some explanations what you think? ## References Peterson, J. (2018). *12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos*. Toronto: Penguin Random House. ISBN: [0345816021][2] [1]: https://archive.org/stream/JordanB.Peterson12RulesForLifeAnAntidoteToChaos/Jordan%20B.%20Peterson%20-%2012%20Rules%20for%20Life_%20An%20Antidote%20to%20Chaos%20%282018%2C%20Random%20House%20Canada%29_djvu.txt [2]: https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/0345816021