This reads like AI most of the time - you must spend more time writing yourself

The parasocial concept and Chuang Tzu's metaphor in this piece are beautiful. We do not love others as they are; we love an image assembled from our own lack and longing, and we impose it on them. "You're much fatter in person" is exactly that. We love not the object itself, but our own desire projected onto the object.

And I think the author understands Eastern philosophy quite deeply. We often try to find answers in external mentors, but in the end, it is about asking ourselves.

However, I am not sure Chuang Tzu's empty boat and the idea of emptying oneself are really correct. To empty the self so as not to collide with others is ultimately the same as saying there is no self. We are always colliding with each other at the boundaries, and through that we remake ourselves, building our own boundaries and our own world.

It is by crashing into the world that we grasp what we are through the fragments. And the idea that the rubber duck does not give the answer, that the answer is already within me, I think that is only possible when you already have enough data inside yourself. Learning by colliding with others is a process of wearing yourself down by comparing with your internal data, and a process of filling in what you lack. To say that all answers are already within you might, perhaps, be arrogance.

That said, I like this piece. Maybe it is because I am just too exhausted and need some chicken soup for my soul.