Why Self-Knowledge is Important

I think it’s important because nothing is more important. That is the first thing. It is important so that you don't create any illusions for yourself. It is important so that you don't accept any authority and become an imitating machine. Most of us don't know about ourselves. Most of us depend on others - books, priests, saviors to tell us what to do and for our so-called "salvation". Most of us have already built up images of the world, life and other things - most of which are derived from what we have been told since generations, from books, education and so on. And we never question them. Unless one knows about oneself, one can't be related to others, one can't be aware of the wholeness of life. Unless one doesn't know oneself, one can't see the false as false and the true as true. Without self-knowledge, there is no basis for one's thinking, no matter how clever, intelligent, or knowledgeable one supposes oneself to be.

It is quite an interesting thing to do. To observe yourself, how you think, act, react and so on. It is quite a joy to learn about oneself. But one must look at oneself dispassionately, without getting tangled in the web of introspective analysis, which is merely a form of condemnation, judgment and control. Also, as one learns about oneself, one must not be afraid to look at what one may find. For I may not like it. I may not choose to look at it, to acknowledge it, to face it. My whole background, accumulated experiences, may tell me to stay away from it. To see myself as I am is difficult, and it requires passive awareness and dispassionate observation of oneself. Most of us are afraid to look. One gets uncomfortable, shrinks from looking and sometimes the mind reacts most violently. It is afraid to look at something which is not of its own self, something which it doesn't already know, something which it can't identify. Identification is a problem that the mind must resolve when learning about oneself. That is one of the biggest difficulties.

In the vast jungle of ideas, superstitions, beliefs and points of view, how can one find out what is true and what is false unless one doesn't start from the starting point - which is oneself? If one is at all observant, one will see how there are many beliefs, ideas, opinions and points of view in the world – each different from the other and in contradiction. And somehow, one tends to think that it is normal. As if so many realities are possible, as if all the point of views can exist simultaneously. Seeing all this and not knowing what to do, one tried to hold on to something – be it a belief, ideology or an illusion for the sake of certainty, surety, wherein one feel comfortable and secure.

There are so many books and people which try to describe reality or which tell you what to do, how to think, how to live and so on. Seeing all this and not knowing anything for oneself, one becomes confused. And in seeking a way out of that confusion, we make experts and specialists all important. We belittle ourselves by imitating others. We try to learn about ourselves through what others have written or said. So, we really don’t learn about ourselves, but only about what the other thinks, even if one may think that one is learning or “progressing”. If we look at ourselves through another, through an intermediary, then we do not look at all. What we then look at is the image, the idea created in our minds through that intermediary. By reading some psychologist or a philosopher, I learn about him and not about myself. I think this is fairly obvious.

Out of our confusion, we create authorities and are exploited in one way or the other. Whereas, when there is intelligence, which can only come into being through self-knowledge, all the books and specialists become irrelevant and unimportant. Then you can see on your own and learn on your own, from everything. Then we need not depend; need not see through another that which is right in front of our eyes. Then we can truly experience life in all its forms because we are free and do not depend on anyone or anything else. Then we can walk on our own without anyone guiding us. Then we can truly be a light to ourselves.