Know Thyself

“Know thyself” – Socrates. Self-awareness is the act of being fully perceptive about one’s innermost self; an essential part to one’s life. However, this self-inquiry is not easily obtained. “Self-awareness and its accompanying egoism profoundly affect people's lives, interfering with their success, damaging their relationships with other people, and undermining their happiness.” (Leary) One’s self can become distorted through the influence of society and their beliefs. “Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment” – Tao Tzu. This introspection surpasses the ordinary understanding of life and grasps the aspect of one’s innermost self. The insightfulness brought to one through self-awareness leads to the utmost happiness and creates a way for personal change and improvement.

One may believe that he or she can make “reliable psychological ascriptions to himself immediately” (Moran) based on fact or of past experiences, which may or may not be accurate. However, how others choose to view another person can be surprisingly differentiating from how one tends to view one’s self. This perspective of one’s self lies within the characteristics of a first person position. One’s views of one’s self, on the other hand, may contradict with the third person’s views. A third person’s perspective has a singular view due to that person’s beliefs, and thoughts which are capable of influencing the opinions that he or she may have.

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are” – Anais Nin. A great deal of distortion of one’s view is attributed to the ego. Because one’s views are affected by ego, perceptions are bias to favor one’s self and ultimately have an effect on the view of the world. One does not perceive the wo...

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...ss one learns what inner needs are necessary in life from the materialistic, worldly desires which prove not to be necessary. (Priddy) One’s most basic identity is not “dependent on the body” which changes throughout the years, neither does it depend on society or one’s standing in it. One’s inner most self is not identifiable to others. Only one can access one’s self. Through this Enlightenment, one truly obtains happiness. Once one knows one’s self it is easier to achieve the much wanted and needed self improvement.

Self-inquiry is hardly an easy realization. Principally, it is due to bias of one’s self and society. One tends to look outside of one’s self for direction; however they are poor reflections of who one’s self really is. (van Warmerdam) The clarity and understanding of one’s emotions in the end achieve clarity of the mind, focus and happiness. (Robson)