Life is a series of questions that people strive to answer through desperate efforts to give value and meaning to their existence and purpose . However, it has been a mystery how to get those answers. A popular and misleading belief is that the answers to life's questions begin with the answer to the biggest question of all: "Who am I?" To find out the answer to this and all other questions, people use the help of those around them. Interacting and forming relationships with others allows you to not only get to know those people, but also discover yourself in that process. The writer Robert Thurman would agree with the idea of ​​the crucial need of human beings to be interconnected with their community and their environment, however he would not agree with the concept of defining and labeling the self as a single identity determined, and defends this argument in his text "Wisdom". Likewise, in war veteran and author Tim O'Brien's narrative "How to Tell a Real War Story," he illustrates the critical role that the bond he shared with fellow soldiers played during the Vietnam War and in discovering things new about the other's personality. However, writer Jon Krakauer takes readers on an expedition to follow Christopher McCandless' journey into the Alaskan wilderness in his narrative selections from Into the Wild, seeking to define McCandless's identity and believes that isolation from society can lead to self-discovery. . All three authors delve into the importance that the self and interconnection have in life. Although they discuss similar concepts, not all three authors have the same views on the notions. Thurman and O'Brien share similar stances on self and interconnectedness...center of paper...as troops during war. While they may not share the same perspective, all three authors note the imperative role that self and interconnection play in life. Self and interconnectedness are all limitless, flexible and indefinable. All three are fundamental elements of life, but possess such complexity that they cannot be understood simply from the surface; instead they require a well-developed investigation as all three authors respectfully attempt. Work Cited Krakauer, Jon. In the wild nature. New York: Villard Books, Random House, 1996.Miller, Richard E. and Kurt Spellmeyer. The new reader of human sciences. 4th ed. Mason,OH: Cengage Learning, 2012.O'Brien, Tim. "How to tell a real war story." The things they carried. New York: BroadwayBooks. 1998. 67-85. Thurman, Robert. Infinite life: seven virtues for living well. New York: Riverhead Books, 2004.