Know Thyself
Who am I? Did you ever wonder? I have. I do know who my biological parents are and I have always been interested in genealogy, tracing the Hollander (family)line back to 1480. This article though is not a quest to discover genetic roots, even though fun to know, not as relevant for figuring out what makes one really ‘tick’.
So, who am I? For centuries curious and self-aware people have asked themselves that question.
“Know thyself” is a philosophical principle which was inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in the ancient Greek precinct of Delphi. Although traditionally attributed to the Seven Sages of Greece, or to the god Apollo himself, the inscription likely had its origin in a popular proverb.
Wise men in Ancient Greece were aware of the importance to know oneself.
“The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.” – Thales
“To know thyself is the beginning of Wisdom” – Socrates.
“Man know thyself; then thou shalt know the Universe and God.” – Pythagoras
In Freemasonry the credo ‘Know Thyself” is of importance too. It’s the primary contemplative task (at least in The Netherlands) that an Apprentice receives once initiated. After all, how can he be ‘at the service’ of others, of his Brothers, the Order and the world, if he does not fully comprehend who he is?
Through the psychology of self we may learn more about the self, our-self, or perhaps selves.
“The earliest form of the Self in modern psychology saw the emergence of two elements, I and me, with I referring to the Self as the subjective knower and me referring to the Self as a subject that is known.” (W. James)
Current views of the Self in psychology position it as playing an integral part in human motivation, cognition, affect, and social identity. For psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung the Self was the predominant driving force of the psyche. Like Freud, he saw the ego (← article on Roels World) as the centre of consciousness but he referred to the Self as the ‘Greater Personality’, ultimately unknowable, linked to a universal sense of cosmic unity. Jung also called the Self an imago Dei.
“It is necessary to keep in touch with a sense of oneself to be alive to one’s feelings and to be guided by one’s intuition. The goal of the self is wholeness and this depends upon the interplay and synthesis of opposites e.g. conscious and unconscious, personal and collective, psyche and soma, masculine and feminine, divine and human. The Self, besides being the center of the psyche, is also autonomous, meaning that it exists outside of time and space.” (C. Jung)
So, what makes you you?
In psychology, identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, and/or expressions that make a person (self-identity) or group (cultural identity). Identity is an individual’s mental image of themselves and their “sameness with others”. Identity appears during childhood once children start to grasp their self-concept, and continues that process during different stages of life. Identity is shaped by social and cultural factors and the way others perceive and acknowledge one’s characteristics. Therefor ‘cultural identity’ and ‘collective identity’ are important to look into first. How much of your self-concept reveals your true self-identity and how much is but a reflection from all that was and is around you?
Collective Identity
Collective Identity or group identity is a shared sense of belonging to a group. In my opinion the collective identity a person experiences due to his/her connection with a group, is often mistakenly believed to be one’s self-identity. From an early age we are stimulated or even forced to act like ‘the others’ that belong to ‘our’ group. The qualities, believes, traits, the appearance of that group are required to be adopted once part of that group.
The most influential group (at least in your early life) is that of family. You grow up among those individuals within the group dynamics. In the approx. first 7 years of a child the child is very much so dependent on its parents. It thus will adapt its behaviour in order to receive all things necessary. The ‘self-concept’ of the child is based upon that of its parents. After all, they are ‘the world’ to it. Around the 7th year the first step in individualisation has been made. The child has felt it is – though still emotionally connected to it’s parents – not them, but ‘something else’. It will discover more about itself as unique being in the following phase. About 7 years later and the child is fully engulfed in puberty, where it will actively pursue its further individualisation. In both periods the child is (both consciously as subconsciously) looking around for ‘clues’ that might guide it towards it’s true self. But, much like the child, the youngster will look for clues outside itself. It will compare itself to groups in the world around, to ‘adopt’ from those group(s) the qualities, believes, traits, the appearance of that group to become one with it. And this process continues to repeat itself as long as one does not realise who one truly is and that the true-self can not be found outside oneself nor be distilled from the collective identity it has adopted, ‘collectives’ like the neighbourhood, town/city, schools/education, sport clubs, cultural / artistic groups, et cetera … from most you might have adopted qualities, believes, traits, the appearance.
Self-Knowledge
“Most people confuse “self-knowledge” with knowledge of their conscious ego personalities. Anyone who has any ego-consciousness at all takes it for granted that he knows himself. But the ego knows only its own contents, not the unconscious and its contents. People measure their self-knowledge by what the average person in their social environment knows of himself, but not by the real psychic facts which are for the most part hidden from them. What is commonly called “self-knowledge” is therefore a very limited knowledge, most of it dependent on social factors, of what goes on in the human psyche.” (C.Jung)
Finding one’s true self
As Thales mentioned earlier in this article “The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.” Once you have realised that you need to look inside instead of outside to find your true self, the hard work starts. From everything you think, feel and do, how much of that is adopted thoughts, feelings and behaviour from other individuals and/or groups … and how much is really you?
Alchemy and the Self
Frequent visitors of my blog might have noticed a growing interest in Spiritual Alchemy, fired up during my ‘Travels’ as Freemason. In this article I have shared some insights from psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung whom happened to be fascinated by Alchemy as well.
Fellow ‘knowledge seeker’ – and as he calls it – ‘dot-connector’ Shilo Kherington shared:
“To Jung, alchemy was a symbolic framework for understanding the psyche. He believed the alchemists—through their cryptic texts and vivid imagery—were describing inner psychological processes that we now recognize as part of personal transformation and self-realization. The Self is the philosopher’s stone of psychological development. It is not found in the world outside but is forged within, as the scattered elements of the psyche are brought into alignment. It is often symbolized by images like the circle or the mandala representing harmony and unity. The Self calls us to live authentically, to embrace the full complexity of who we are, and to align with our deepest purpose. But the question remains: how do we achieve this wholeness? Jung called it individuation — his alchemy of the psyche.”
“Individuation means becoming an ‘individual,’ and, insofar as ‘individuality’ embraces our innermost, last, and incomparable uniqueness, it also implies becoming one’s own self. We could therefore translate individuation as ‘coming to selfhood’ or ‘self-realization.’“(C. Jung, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche)
So, how to proceed?
There is not just one path to walk, nor just one method, it is all up to you to figure out wat works for you. What I shared in this article might not be ‘the way’ for you. Then don’t be discouraged, keep searching and you will find your way! Since we touched the subject of Alchemy briefly in this article, perhaps it might be useful to share something along that line of thought?
To Know the Self – is the ultimate ideal – much like the Philosophers Stone – a symbol of wholeness, transformation, and enlightenment. True transformation doesn’t happen overnight though; it’s a lifelong process of self-discovery and growth.
Carl Jung said: “Since self-knowledge is a matter of getting to know the individual facts, theories help very little in this respect. For the more a theory lays claim to universal validity, the less capable it is of doing justice to the individual facts. There is and can be no self-knowledge based on theoretical assumptions, for the object of self-knowledge is an individual – a relative exception and an irregular phenomenon.“
So, forget about theories and skip making assumptions! Start by truthfully looking into yourself, listen to what your inner self tries to tell you.
One of the methods you could use to discover your true Self, might be by going through the 7 stages of the alchemical process. There are also alchemical processes in 3, 12 (and more) stages, I personally prefer the 7 stage process.
- The first stage is that of Calcination (fire). To free oneself of ‘ego’ and our (self) created (possibly false) perceptions of our identity. With other words, to get rid of all parts of ‘adopted identity’, mentioned earlier in this article. This stage asks us to humble ourselves – fire sparks the journey into the self.
- The second stage is that of Dissolution (water). Here we are plunged into the waters of the unconscious. The water in this stage asks us to let go, and to release the structures and the systems that define our perceptions of ourselves. With other words, let go of all that you believe is you. In life it’s not about believing but about knowing, so don’t be afraid to let go of those believes.
- The third stage is that of Separation (earth). Now that we have unearthed the unconscious materials that we once discarded, we can also now sift through it to really find parts of it that are part of our true Self. Do keep in mind we have both a light and dark side. Also the dark side is part of the true self. If you are sincere in working this process, you should not ignore the dark side and only focus on the light. One must know their dark side if one wished to learn to understand and ‘face’ it successfully.
- The fourth stage is that of Conjunction (air). It is at this moment where we re-integrate. Unconscious and conscious come together. With other words, become fully aware, or ‘mindful’.
- The fifth stage is Fermentation. It’s essentially all about testing this newly integrated self. The idea here is that we must go through the darkest of night in order to see the dawn, and when it arrives, it brings with it something explosively beautiful.
- The sixth stage is that of Distillation. To prepare for the final stage, we need to purify the spirit to make sure that it is free from any destructive forms of ego. Here we are planting the seed for the unborn, trans-personal self – one that is free from the distinctions of the collective. To help it grow, one has to nourish it – which can be done with various forms of contemplation, spiritual ritual or meditation.
- The 7th and last stage is that of Coagulation. Here, there is the meeting between matter and spirit, inner and outer, the union of dualities. It is at this stage where the spirit has become self aware – it perceives itself, and it sees and understands that the inner world and the outer world are not different, but reflections of each other (as above, so below).
‘Temet Nosce‘
A little fun fact, near the end of this article is the maxim ‘Temet Nosce’ that is used in the movie The Matrix. At a certain moment Neo visits the Oricle. The oracle references a sign above the doorway of the kitchen that has the Latin phrase: “Temet Nosce.”
She asks Neo if he knows what the sign means, and he turns to look at the sign. As he turns, the doorway comes into view, revealing the sign: ‘Temet Nosce’ (Know your Mind) that is the Latin translation of the Greek Delphic maxim: “Know Thyself”.
Not only great thinkers have asked the question “Who Am I?” … Also creative minds expressed their thoughts and feelings about it … like Nina Simone:
I would like to end this article with something famous writer Oscar Wilde once mentioned:
“Know thyself’ was written over the portal of the antique world.
Over the portal of the new world, ‘Be thyself’ shall be written.”
Sources:
Wikipedia: Identity | Psychology of Self | Know thyself
‘The Undiscovered Self‘ (C. Jung)
‘The Self’ (Martin Schmidt)
‘Jungian Alchemy Explained‘ (Shilo Kherington)
