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Subject knowing ourselves


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Publication 197 By apprentice on Monday, November 12, 2001 at 08:16
Location: Australia   Registered: Saturday, October 27, 2001  Posts: 4    Search for other posts by apprentice Search   Quote
"Know yourself" is the message that one gets from almost any form of guidance. What you should do in your life in terms of your career, choosing a friend or partner, where to live and almost every important decision leads to the question of knowing yourself. However, in today's society which has so many set conventions and customs, how is one as a social being ever to know oneself?

On one hand, we are told to search deep within ourselves to find out who we are and to know ourselves; on the other hand we are constantly to examine every step of our life to make sure it is not in contradiction of any laws, conventions or customs of the society. How does one know whether they are acting in a certain way because of their innerself or due to a certain convention. It seems to me that we are doomed either way. If we follow our innerself, we leave ourselves open to the criticism of the society which can at times be unbearable. The flip side is to follow what the society says and then we never get to find out the right answers to my beginning questions in relation to major decisions in life.
The society and the media, by setting conventions and standards, seem to have a great net set around us and lead us in any direction which they choose. We cannot resist against this, as we need to interact with the society in order to make a living and survive.
It seems to me that we are the modern-slaves and the physical chains are only replaced by standards and conventions which in essence control where we are going. To resist the control is like resisting to go with the flow of chains.
The great debate about whether the media sets the standards for society or the society sets the standards for the media is seemingly an overlooked issue. This is causing people to be constantly involved with living up to the standards in order to prevent criticism. Hence, instead of living their lives how "they like", they live how "they should".

Publication 198 By apprentice on Monday, November 12, 2001 at 09:54
Location: Australia   Registered: Saturday, October 27, 2001  Posts: 4    Search for other posts by apprentice Search   Quote
A quote which led me to the issue of knowing myself is by C. S. Lewis:

"'I now see that I spent most of my life in doing 'neither' what I ought 'nor' what I liked.'

After reading this quote, I started wondering what is the difference between "what I ought" and "what I liked".

Publication 199 By absent-minded on Thursday, November 15, 2001 at 00:19
Location: Greece   Registered: Friday, June 29, 2001  Posts: -148    Search for other posts by absent-minded Search   Quote
Maybe such a strong and definite opposition between us and the society is misleading. The world is one, but we don't live all of us in the same world, nor in the same society, nor in the same town. Schubert does not live in the same world where Hitler lives - nor, let's say, Heidegger, despite his nazist side.

On the other hand, we can not wake up one morning and say "today I will know myself and I will create my world". It doesn't happen like this, because it is not a matter of a decision, but of all thinking and doing, all inclinations, inspirations and relationships of our life. We create our world even when we don't know that we do it. When we know what we do, we simply do the same thing, but more intensely, purely and devotedly. You can not sleep as a daemon and wake up as an angel... What we call an exercise, e.g. in monasticism, it is not something that changes our nature; it just helps us to take the responsibility of ourselves and of the world we create. It helps us to know our will and not to change our will. This is how I understand "becoming oneself", as a knowledge of what I think that I want and of what I really want and always really wanted.

This way presupposes that I will make many mistakes - and more than this, that I need to make mistakes in order to learn. That I will arrive at a place, the name of which I thought it was different when I sailed. This is how I understand Rilke's warning, that "above all you must never stop having wishes". Any obstacle to our wish, for example, a social custom or a convention, is an opportunity for us to explore the strength and the origin of our will. And sometimes, what seems like just "conventional people", are door keepers waiting precisely for us to enter the inside.

Publication 201 By absent-minded on Thursday, November 22, 2001 at 22:21
Location: Greece   Registered: Friday, June 29, 2001  Posts: -148    Search for other posts by absent-minded Search   Quote
See also a text closely related to our discussion, just published, The man without a face

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