The idea of a return to the self is one of those ideas that outlives its moment. It was never simply a religious or political call — it was an intellectual cry against the loss of the modern individual, caught between blind imitation of the West and an inner rigidity that had killed the spirit of initiative and creativity. At its heart was a search for the conscious human: someone able to understand themselves, their history, and their faith, without closing off from the world or becoming a duplicate of others.
In an earlier era, the battle for identity was tied to direct colonialism and the dominance of imported ideas. Today the battle is more complex. We live in the era of digital globalization, where minds are no longer occupied by armies alone, but by algorithms, advertisements, social platforms, and a fast consumer culture. The idea of returning to the self needs a new reading — more open, more aware, more humane.
Returning to the self no longer means closing the door on the world. It means knowing who you are, the values you want to live by, and how you contribute to human civilization without losing your character. The modern world can no longer afford closed intellectual conflicts, monopolies on truth, or the exclusion of those who differ. We share one planet with many peoples, religions, and cultures, and any real renaissance project must be built on mutual respect, human justice, and coexistence — not on bigotry or hatred.
Critiquing blind imitation of the West does not mean rejecting either West or East. It means freeing ourselves from the mentality of dependence wherever it lives. Science is neither Western nor Eastern. Technology belongs to no single civilization. The great human values — freedom, dignity, mercy, justice — are shared across humanity. What is asked of us today is not to build a wall between ourselves and the world, but to enter the world with confidence, as contributors rather than only consumers.
In the age of artificial intelligence and the digital revolution, returning to the self becomes a practical project: building the human being capable of thinking, critiquing, and creating. A modern renaissance is not made of slogans. It is made of real education, of scientific research, of producing knowledge, of respecting time, of mastering one's craft, of developing the economy, and of building just institutions that honor the human regardless of religion, ethnicity, or background.
Renewing this thought today also requires moving past the assumed clash between faith and modern life. Religion, at its core, can be a source of ethics, meaning, and mercy — not a tool for division or domination. Modernity, in turn, is not a war on the spirit or on values; it can be put to work building societies that are more conscious, more just, and more open.
Perhaps the most important shift is moving from a discourse of reaction to a discourse of building the future. Instead of remaining busy only with critiquing others, we must ask: What will we offer the world? How will we produce knowledge? How will we raise generations capable of innovation? How will we build a thoughtful media instead of an outrage industry? And how will we use technology to serve the human being rather than enslave them?
The contemporary person needs more than an identity. They need psychological and spiritual balance inside a fast, crowded, pressured world. Returning to the self today may mean returning to deep thought instead of the rapid consumption of content; returning to reading and to knowledge; returning to real human relationships; returning to the meaning of life, away from the digital void.
In the end, the most beautiful thing we can take from this tradition is not the literal repetition of its ideas, but the spirit of its project: that the human be free, conscious, at peace with their roots, and open to the world at the same time. Civilizations do not rise on hatred or on imitation. They rise when a human knows themselves well, respects others, and finds the courage to build a better future for all.