Know Thyself
Know thyself was inscribed above the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi
Simple ain’t easy. Even the partial achievement of Socrates’ simple advice to Know Thyself takes a lifetime of hard work.
The Bible tells us that Moses wandered for forty years in the desert in search of the promised land. Given that the Sinai desert is the size of a postage stamp, it is hard to believe anyone could be lost within it for this long. Rather, we should read this story as the search for the promised land within as we endeavor to search for our true selves.
For decades, some of the most well-read people I knew told me their favorite book was the Bhagavad Gita. My repeated attempts to read this book led to my ultimate failure to crack the code. How could a battle between two sides of one’s family lead to enlightenment? Then, one day, it clicked when someone handed me a translation by Gandhi.
The lifelong battle Arjuna was fighting, with Lord Krishna as his charioteer, was between his lower animal self, controlled by his reptilian urges, and his potential for a higher enlightened self. The essence of the Bhagavad Gita is in its representation of the chariot as the human body, the five horses as the five senses, with the reins representing the human mind.
Self-discovery begins with understanding that our animal self needs food, shelter, sex, and security. But a higher self has the potential to experience love, honor, creativity, and spirituality. As such, we are spirits temporarily housed in a human shell, not bodies containing a spirit.
Aging well comes with the realization that as our physical body weakens, our spiritual body can strengthen. By the same token, as aging dims our intellect, our emotional body can strengthen as we make greater connections to everyone and everything, feeling less isolated and alone.
The first step on the journey to self-discovery is developing the capacity to be alone without feeling lonely by harnessing the power of solitude. While knowing oneself is certainly hard work, it is worth it as we prepare to “shuffle off this mortal coil.”
— Sina.