Know thyself
Mysticism
The electronic doorbell of my house broke one day. I am not much of a handy man but decided on that day to install a new doorbell. The installation required that I install the wiring through pipes from my kitchen where there would be a speaker phone to the front of my home where the door bell will be located. After a full day of diligently working I finally completed the installation. The doorbell worked and I could clearly hear somebody speak from the front door to my kitchen. Satisfied with my accomplishment I put away my tools. A while later I needed to go to the shops to buy some groceries. As I was driving away I glanced back at my handiwork. Something looked odd but I could not figure out exactly what was bothering me. With closer examination later I realised that I have installed the doorbell upside down…the way it was installed would have left rain in and drastically shorten the life span of the doorbell.
The lesson of this story is: If all else fails then read the manual! If I have taken the time to read the manual I would have installed the doorbell correctly the first time.
The adage “Know thyself” is well known to me. I have become so familiar with the term that I often forget what it means or why I deemed it important. More important, is the fact that despite agreeing with this epigram, few have a method or technique to know themselves. We lack a manual for knowing ourselves.
The term, “Know Thyself “, was inscribed in the Pronaos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek peripatetic writer Pausanias. The inscription further led to the conclusion … and thou shalt know the gods.” It is important to note the link that is drawn by the Greeks between knowing oneself and an experience of the divine. The proverbs in the Outer Temple read: ”The body is the house of God.” The placement of these two was not accidental. To know oneself one must be aware of one’s body.
The Greek Philosopher Plato employed the maxim ‘Know Thyself’ extensively by having the character of Socrates use it to motivate his dialogues. Plato makes it clear that Socrates is referring to a long-established wisdom when he refers to the maxim. For example: In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates uses the maxim ‘know thyself’ as his explanation to Phaedrus for why he has no time for mythology or other far flung topics. Socrates says, “But I have no leisure for them at all; and the reason, my friend, is this: I am not yet able, as the Delphic inscription has it, to know myself; so it seems to me ridiculous, when I do not yet know that, to investigate irrelevant things.” Socrates says in essence that people make themselves appear ridiculous when they are trying to know obscure things before they know themselves.
Know thyself has often been a corner stone rejected. “Can one know oneself” wondered the French poetess George Sand. “Is one ever somebody?” “When will I ever see that Am that I Am?” lamented the poet Rumi. Scores of poets and philosophers dedicated their lives to inquiring about the Self, seeking its elusive mysteries, digging deep to unearth that hidden stone without which all construction would be in vain. Some attained remarkable results, attested to by the legacy of their works. Others never found an end to their quest.
For the mystic the attempt to know him or herself is one technique in gaining a deeper knowledge of the divine. To the mystic the self is a reflection of the Source of creation. To “Know thyself” is also a pathway to self mastery. a mystical philosophy cannot be without grounding but must reify the essence of value into the reality of the present moment. When we strive towards self-mastery then it is self-mastery in this life, the current life we are living in the present. What does self mastery mean? It means learning how to chart your own course through life. How to find the means to make the right choices and decisions? It means being able to take charge of your life and help those around you to achieve a happier and healthier existence. None of these can be achieved if we do not know ourselves.
The question today is do we really know ourselves? What needs to be done to know yourself? Gurdjieff taught that through simple observation we can establish that man has at least four levels of consciousness: A state of sleep, like when we sleep in our beds at night, a waking sleep where we are doing things almost on autopilot. Then there is the waking conscious where we are alert, mindful and our thoughts are crystal clear. Lastly there are those who profess to a consciousness where we are aware of the divine e.g. a consciousness beyond the normal consciousness. Following Socrates’s reasoning if we don’t know ourselves we cannot know the mystical way of live which is far more intricate and delicate in its fabric. The insistence on a form of gnosis (knowledge) from mystics is often seen as secretive and therefor classified to be occult. From the mystic’s perspective this insight into life comes only through developing one’s consciousness…and the experience of the divine cannot be shared or transferred through knowledge alone. Each individual must reach out to gain access to the mystical experience.
Volumes have been written on the topic of self-knowledge by various mystics. The cue we find from Delphi lies in the writing on the outer wall: “The body is the house of God.” Whatever your conception of God, we must acknowledge we are here as human beings. I will not be venture into speculation on the how or why? What we must acknowledge is that the body is a marvelous and unique instrument of life. I recently visited a display called Body Worlds shows where one can view plasticized bodies or body parts. Real bodies that were donated by people while they were living. The display shows the intricacy of the design of the human body. Suffice to say in order to know ourselves we must begin by observing ourselves. To become aware of our body is to the mystic preparation something like kindergaren is in relation to university.
We are conditioned to continue mental, emotional and physical activities entirely mechanical. Ordinary activities do not require our attention or presence even to the smallest degree. One can live a whole life-time marching a habitual treadmill to oblivion, never experiencing what it means to be alive. The reality is that we easily fall into the pattern of being seduced by our sensations and our mental distractions. In a sense we become hostage to our own ideas just happening automatically. We flop down in a chair in a prescribed manner. When somebody says something we return with anger, disgust, or whatever emotion that is usually stirred by certain behavior. Seldom have we stopped to think about it and seen the choices we had. We do not use any will of our own for it is arrested by activities and interests that is learned, programmed into our behavior rather than from our conscious action.
Knowing thyself begins with observing every aspect of the body. See how you recline against the back of the chair, the rate of your breathing…how fast or slow you move? How do you behave when you see somebody… are you aware of your body language? Every action you make represents in some manner your energy and how energy is directed. Through self observation we learn concentration, a capability that is essential in our deepened understanding of the divine. To constantly observe ourselves we need to overcome three enemies: wandering attention, distractions and seductions.
Nature does not fear ordinary efforts; we need to make special effort to outsmart Nature if we want to truly observe ourselves and have a deeper view of the divine. We must force our Nature to make a mistake so that we can see who we really are. We are conditioned to fall into the routine and monotony of automated living. By observing ourselves we begin to awaken our deeper awareness.
It is natural that as we observe ourselves that we will want to start to change ourselves. One should guard against this urge. Just take time to observe and note. Note how your behavior changes when you are at home relative to the time when you are at work. Don’t be self-critical when you observe yourself by judging action as right or wrong, just take note. You will find that when you decide to observe yourself you will begin strongly and before you know it there will be a realisation that you have stopped observing yourself. Do not chastise yourself for failing. To really learn the concentration to observe yourself takes time and requires persistance.
One method of lifting our awareness is through intentionally concentrating the fullest possible attention on the source of attention namely our activities. This form of self-study is the beginning of mystical work. Maybe nothing noticeable will happen for a long time, but eventually, with perseverance, we will obtain definite results. Nobody else can increase your awareness only you can do it by taking the time to learn how to observe yourself. As our awareness of ourselves increases it begins to form a bridge between our world and the higher dimensions of being. When we become more conscious of our selves then we take an active step in our voluntary evolution. Ultimately we learn to appreciate not just our own constitution but also gain more respect for humanity and the challenges humanity face to live consciously.
I wanted through this discourse inspire everybody to once again take up the challenge to ‘know yourself’. This is not a complete discourse with a full set of answers but it hopefully it stimulates somebody to once again ask: “Do I know myself?” There is no manual because we each differ…and within us we each carry a different mirror of the divine. Try to observe yourself…and open yourself up for the knowledge you gleam by just being more aware …and do not be surprised that one day you will begin to develop a new awareness of who you are.
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