Know Thyself

This phrase was inscribed in Temple entrances in ancient Greece, as has for ages been a hot topic in the fields of philosophy and psychology. According to Socrates, "the unexamined life is not worth living," and we'll briefly discuss the problems and possibilities offered by this concept of "self knowledge."

_{source: Wikimedia Commons}

What stands out immediately is how old this idea is, and how central it is to all other "big questions" in life; "who am I" seems in need of an answer before all answers to all other questions can properly understood, or have any meaning at all. This old idea stands in stark contrast with the modern day understanding that there's much to indicate that the "self" is an illusion, a mental construct to help our physical bodies and brains survive in the physical world, that social creatures like us have developed the ability to speak and feel, and to understand and communicate each others's feelings, as to build a cohesive web of cooperation. We're so good at all of this that we literally shot up to the top of every food-chain in an archaeological blink of an eye. But it's just a tool, an illusion of the mind, just like free will, and therefore it stands to question if there's any use in trying to know your true self, if there's no true self to get to know.

Illusion or not, we do have to abide by the presence of a self in day to day life, especially if this illusion is instrumental to the survival of the species. And if that at least is true, then Socrates is right. Socrates' self-knowledge on the other hand, lead him to conclude: "I know that I know nothing," which might be yet another indication for the absence of a true self... It has to be said that this is all according to Plato, one of Socrates' students, and that it was Plato who said that Socrates' wisdom was defined by understanding the limits of his knowledge. By "know thyself," Socrates meant to say that one should examine the reasons behind ones beliefs and convictions. If you know why you hold a certain opinion, and can explain your position, this will help you and others understand. It'll also help you in the process of understanding others and their opinions better, and even helps in opening up for changing your opinions. If you just hold opinions, without understanding why you hold them, or just because it's the prevailing opinion within the circles you frequent, any chance of opening up to other opinions is already lost. This way of examining one's own life can lead to some harsh questions about one's own beliefs too; it can be a humbling experience.

The reason why Socrates' point is valid, is because it can prevent a lot of misery; what if you keep doing the same work every day because you believed once that this is what you want to do, but you really don't anymore? This immediately opens us up to the dangers in "knowing thyself"; our self-knowledge is not always real knowledge, and it carries a risk of not acknowledging that we can all change. Trust me on this one: after your first child you're not the same person as before. And this is just a very clear and sudden example of the many life changing experiences we all live through, most very slowly and unnoticed. And that's the danger; we once loved doing A, but we are now not the same as then, but we don't notice because we know our self... And so we keep on doing the same thing, slowly and gradually eating away at our pleasure in life.

_{Know Thyself}

Another danger is to go by introspection alone, when this is actually not the best way to get to know yourself. This is why "know thyself" is explained wrong in the lion's share of the books in the popular "self-help" genre. We only know our-self through the mirror that our fellow humans hold up to us. Knowing yourself, understanding why you've come to certain opinions and beliefs, helps you to be sure of yourself, even when you see the errors of your ways when confronted with new evidence or new experiences. A lack of self knowledge can lead to being overly vulnerable to extremely negative or extremely positive judgments. We'll bow our heads and cower away when someone says we're doing something bad, even when it's not true, and we'll eagerly say and do things just to please, to gain adulation from others.

The first mirrors in our lifes are the most important ones, and under normal circumstances these first mirrors are held up to us by our parents. It's important that these mirrors are as truthful as possible, thereby giving the child the best chance to grow up with a true understanding of him or her self. People that are uncertain of them-self and consequently become society's "drop-outs" or compensate by constantly wearing a mask, effectively not being themselves, often had parents that didn't try to be a true mirror for their child. One simple example to illustrate this point: when a child is unhappy on their birthday, the parent can briskly talk to the child and tell it how lucky it is and shouldn't be sad and just cheer up and enjoy the party we've gone so much trouble for to prepare, just for you... Or the parent can be a true mirror and say that it's okay to be sad once in a while, even on your own birthday, and from there on try to dig out the reason of the child's sadness in an interactive manner.

So, know thyself my dear crypto brothers and sisters, but be aware of the many false mirrors being held up by our modern consumerist society, and don't let the introspection stop with the knowledge that is beneficial to yourself only, as you also are a mirror for those around you...

_{The Examined Life: Know Thyself #1 | WIRELESS PHILOSOPHY}

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