Know Yourself

In the Tao Te Ching there is a quote that goes something like this; "He who knows others is wise but he who knows himself is enlightened.  The question is, how does one get to know himself?  You might say that you already know yourself.  You have a name, your are a man (or woman), you know what you like and dislike, you have values and beliefs that enable you to discriminate between good and bad, all of your experiences with friends, foes, lovers, and everything that life has thrown at you up to this point have helped make you who you are today and on and on.

I am here to tell you, that is not really you.  All that s**t has done is mask and blot out the true you.  The true you has nothing to do with your sex, your likes, dislikes, values, beliefs and so on.  The true you was here long before all of those things influenced you and made you into who you think you are.  To know yourself you have to know your mind because your mind thinks it is you and you think you are your mind.  You have been so brainwashed into thinking you are this and that to the point you believe it.  You think you are your thoughts.  Ha, you silly willy. That is not even close to the real you.  It's time to get real.

First, you must get to know and really understand the thing you call yourself.  You must learn to observe yourself, not with your thinking mind, but with complete awareness that exists beyond the mind. To observe yourself means to notice, inquire, and get in touch with the way "you" are - to understand why "you" do what "you" do.  Self observation is the key to understanding yourself and that is why meditation is so important.  Watching your mind at work and your reactions to those thoughts is the best way to understand yourself.  By knowing how your mind works, you can get in touch with your self.

Next - How to observe yourself.