SELF-KNOWLEDGE: The Most Exciting Journey of Your Life
Do you know who you are?
None of us would ever think of getting into a late-model Ferrari without being given a few basic instructions on how to get the most out of it, how to enjoy the ride, and how not to load it up or die trying. As it turns out, we have in our hands a much more precise, powerful and valuable creation, which we are learning to manage by trial and error, without instructions and sometimes with a lot of suffering: ourselves.
The first time I heard that human beings used 5% of our mental capacity and that 95% of our decisions were made by the unconscious, I froze, what a potential for improvement! It seems that we tend to go on autopilot and without having checked whether the “software loaded” (my beliefs) is useful or not for the destination we want to go to.
Life has taught me that we have two paths to transformation, that of suffering or that of conscious commitment to self-knowledge. The more we know ourselves and muscle our inner resources, the better prepared we will be for life’s difficult trials.
Self-knowledge is an ongoing process of becoming aware of who we really are, how we function and, by analogy, how the rest of the human beings with whom we share planet earth function. Self-knowledge leads us to honour our individuality and respect the individuality of the other, while connecting with the oneness that we all are. It is the most important work we have as human beings in this school of life. It is on this process of self-knowledge that we will be able to get the most out of our particular “Ferrari”.
In the Delphic Oracle of ancient Greece, when someone came to ask him a question, he first had to read:
“I warn you, whoever you are, who wish to probe the arcana of nature, that if you do not find within yourself that which you seek, you will not be able to find it outside either. If you are ignorant of the excellences of your own house, how can you pretend to find other excellences? In you is hidden the Treasury of Treasures. Man, know thyself, and thou shalt know the universe and the gods”.
Lao Tzu said: “He who knows the external is a scholar. He who knows himself is wise. He who conquers others is powerful. He who conquers himself is invincible”.
This is my experience. I invite you not to believe anything. Do your research and experiment.
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