THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE

In ancient times self-knowledge was considered to be an important and significant ideal for various reasons, it was even inscribed above the entrance doorway of the temple of Apollo at Delphi in the form of "know thyself". In modern times this ideal of self-knowledge is now even more desperately needed than before, especially when we consider how immensely conditioned people are by modern society as well as by the many dogmatic traditions that still exist today. The sheer ignorance that certain dogmatic traditions instills in many people who are vying for status and prestige within the system that we all know and exist in, is incredible, and it is a system which most of us know is based upon certain traditions and specific procedures that have been around for a very long time. We may even ask ourselves why self-knowledge is important in our day to day lives, especially in the modern and fast moving world many of us live in. Also we find that when we really attempt to discover our own inner nature, we find that it is our own desires, inclinations, dreams and aspirations which most indicate who we really are as people. So it is only by discovering who we really are within us that we are able to change ourselves properly and effectively. It can be said that it is from our own self-knowledge that we form our own character. Having our own unique character as an individual does not only consist of those things that makes us different to other people, which is what we generally think makes our own character distinct and unique, it is also what makes us alike to certain other people that we identify with, that makes our character identifiable to them and to others in how they identify with us generally. We cannot say that being an individual with our own character means that we are completely unique and separate from other people, and this is because we all have to share certain similarities with others, otherwise we would never get on with each other in any kind of meaningful way. To find out who we are does not be mean that we discover that we are these fixed and rigid creatures that are unable to change. When we discover things about ourselves we also discover what we like and do not like about ourselves. To improve ourselves requires that we at least attempt to change the things that we do not like about ourselves. Real progress in evolution is about the ability to change the things that we do not like about ourselves as well as the ability to adapt ourselves and our own inner nature to suit new circumstances. In our desire to understand ourselves, we come to discover that certain aspects of our own character cannot really be changed at all, so we learn to accept these aspects of ourselves, we learn to embrace them and develop them. Self-knowledge enables us to be more direct in our understanding of reality, it gives us a type of certainty we would not have if we were more unsure of ourselves. This does not mean that self-knowledge always makes us correct in our assessment of the world, but it does make us more genuine in what we think and feel about it. Self-knowledge is a quality as well as an ideal that gives us a sense of freedom in our relation to the world, it prevents us from being conditioned and enslaved by societal conditioning and impersonal ideals. I have written elsewhere that a person can be judged as being a sum of his or her own acts, for example, you cannot be judged for what you think or say, but only for what you do. Yet I must point out that even though we are a sum of our own acts, there is still a big difference between our acts and our own motives themselves. An example of the difference between our acts and our motives can be seen in the act of killing itself; one person may kill in self-defence, whereas another person may kill because he or she is truly evil, yet both these people are judged as killers, but in the latter case it is called murder. Our motives can be judged when they are part of an act, in the sense of a motive and an act conducted together, but never as an intention without an act to go with it, and never as an unintentioned, unmotivated act of self-defence. Even though people cannot actually be judged for their own intentions, inclinations, dreams and desires and so on, these aspects of a persons character still represent a huge potential and latent portion of a persons inner nature. Many thinkers claim that the ego (i.e., the "I" or "the self") is unreal or false. The problem with thinking that the ego is unreal or false is the fact that it does not really tell us anything about why we have an ego, or why it is necessary that we should have one at all. I believe that all parts of the psyche manifest different aspects of our being depending on our knowledge and experiences. I view the ego as an adaptable structure that is in flux, yet is real. I think that the ego is similar to the Buddhist concept of emptiness, but with a temporary personality that always changes and adapts due to one's ideals or superego. I view the ego as consisting of two elements: that is "the self" and the "persona (mask)". Some psychologists claim that the self and the ego are two different and separate things, yet this does not make any sense seeing as how ego means the self, in its original Greek meaning. The different mythologies from around the world are a symbolic projection in the form of stories of all the basic needs, desires and inclinations of the human psyche itself that exists within human beings generally. The mythological stories that we can most relate to personally, are in a sense, the ones that tell us the most about our own inner nature in its existential essence, which are feelings that one finds in oneself that one needs in a sense to project and concretize in the world. The unreal aspects of mythology are metaphors for the types of energies that we feel and need to project outwardly. Alexander the Great with his strong identification with Achilles, is a perfect example of what I mean in regard to mythology representing energies that we can identify with in the sense of a wish to emulate it in the world at large in the form of the projection of energies. Alexander also worshiped Dionysus, which came out more in his reckless and rowdy behaviour. Identity is something that we choose because we find that it gives us some meaning and joy in our lives, and we choose one set of identities rather than another for this very same reason, it is merely a set of choices we cannot really avoid because of our inner nature in the sense of who we really are, and it occurs organically once we have made the decision to follow it and identify with it more and more. Some people also choose to be either wishy-washy or indifferent in regard to having any kind of distinct type of identity or character, and this is because they either do not want to be pinned down or have not yet decided what type of person they want to be. Identity is also something that we build up over many years, adding some things and disgarding others. Earlier in this essay I mentioned that the ego is in flux, this does not mean that all aspects of the ego change. Some aspects of the ego change, whereas other aspects remain fixed, yet all is in flux in ragard to how it expresses itself. Many thinkers claim that there is no fixed or distinct "self" or "I" in the ego, yet the characters of most human beings do have certain traits, inclinations and interests that consistently exist in them and which they have and express throughout most of their life, and so when some people claim that the self does not exist, it is an absurd and meaningless claim to make. Our self is who we consistently are. Also who we choose to be is part of the self, even if it happens to be a temporary aspect of our character, it still is an aspect of our character, and in a sense it can be said to be us, temporarily. The type of knowledge that we pursue tells us something about ourselves, it is a type of individuation, and this is so even though a lot of the knowledge that we pursue is objective knowledge. There are four main drives that I have noticed exists in most human beings, which are either connected to their insecurities or to their other drives, depending on whether they are being fulfilled or not, and which seems to motivate most of their desires and behaviour generally: the first, is the need to pursue happiness, joy and the sense of well being that comes from these feelings, the second, is the need to affirm life, which is the same as the need to feel fully alive and fulfilled, the third, is the need to put meaning into the things that they do, this manifests as the need to value things for particular reasons, which are reasons that make sense to them existentially, and gives them a sense of psychological satisfaction, and the fourth, is the need for freedom, liberty and individualism. Many people are far too afraid to behave in a strange and weird manner, in fear that many other people will no accept them, yet, a person is never more themselves than when they are being strange and weird. To be normal means to be conditioned, what is considered normal in one age may be considered backwards, ignorant or stupid in another, or even unhealthy. To be normal means to follow the herd, it represents the herd mentality in humans. Soul, being, selfhood, these are all different words for the same concept, they are all symbols that represent the need to discover our real authentic self, it is similar to the process of individuation, it entails ridding oneself of all that is false that society and the powers that be, has implanted within us through conditioning. Selfhood also consists of a creative element, this creative element, is called becoming. Now becoming is when tendencies and inclinations in the form of potentialities that exist within us, slowly become actual, which then lead to other things in a non-repetitive cycle of growth. I mentioned that one of the most significant and necessary drives within us is the need for meaning, we can also say that purpose comes from meaning. Jung mentions that meaning is largely a symbolic drive, it is different symbolic ways of thinking that gives us meaning, this can manifest as roles, or as symbolic ideals and so on. We can also say that meaning comes from the evaluations that we make, or from a strong sense of identification to things, either instinctually, or through more rational means. Evaluations, identifications, instinctual inclinations, or rational identifications produce a feeling that we value certain things, and in a sense, this is where meaning comes from, meaning comes from these values, which can then take on a symbolic form as purpose. We can have many purposes, in the form of the many drives that exist within us, which are competing for ascendancy within us all of the time, but it is nearly always the most powerful drive (purpose) within us that usually wins out in the end. These drives within us tend to have a hierarchy of their own, which depends on our circumstances and interests at any given time. How well a person understands the outside world is a reflection of how well they understand themselves. People who understand the objective world very well, also understand themselves very well. The essence of a person is not a purely subjective phenomenon; our inner nature depends on the outside world for its formation. In general human beings do not know themselves well enough to know what they really want, they are not completely sure of what they are about. Evolution is a long process, we are still in our infancy. Throughout history human beings have been driven by circumstances that they did not fully understand, they assumed positions, and they pursued aims that seemed to attract them for reasons that they did not fully question. Human beings do not always pursue what makes them feel good, but they do nearly always pursue what attracts them. We must investigate the nature of what does, or does not attract us as human beings! Only then can we fully comprehend human motives. The Bruce Lee saying that: "all knowledge is ultimately self-knowledge" is very interesting, and this is because he suggested that every bit of knowledge that we learn informs us more about whom we really are as people.