Know Thyself

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Recommended: Study of the human body systems

Consider the ancient imperative “know thyself”. How can different ways of knowing help us as individuals and communities to achieve this goal?

Shakespeare once said, “Life is but a stage and men merely players on it.” In order for us to become main characters on this stage, instead of mere extras, we must be able to truly identify who we are as individuals first. After this has been accomplished we can find out how we can benefit our society. When complete self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-confidence, and self-respect are reached, than you can truly “know thyself.”
In all of the Natural Sciences, be it physics, chemistry, or biology, the physical world is dissected and analyzed. Using a language of their own, the Natural Sciences go about defining and declaring what we are. In biology the human brain is analyzed and studied; in fact when my parents were in medical school and were studying neurology, they were given actual brains to dissect. However these studies merely identify what is there physically, not the soul or the identity. Sant Kirpal Singh explains, “Man is composed of body, mind (intellect) and soul. We are extremely careful to develop ourselves physically and mentally, but understand very little about the soul, which is the Power ruling both the body and the mind.”
I have a sixth grade sister named Nora, and she is going through what most young adults go through at her age, self-discovery. She is neither an adult nor a child and is feeling lost and angry at ...

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