Know Thyself
On the great shrine of Delphi, was the inscription "Know thyself". This really encapsulates the essence of mystical development. It is, in one sense, our reason for being on Earth.
To know yourself means to be aware, to be alert and to be conscious. You have to be aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it. How often when walking along, sitting at your desk or even driving are you really aware of what you are doing? Many people will drive for miles in a daydream and suddenly ‘come to’ when they turn into their driveway. What brings you back to earth is the fact that you are in a body. The input from your senses is the anchor that grounds you. After death there is no such anchor. What you think about is where you go.
In Dante’s ‘Inferno’ he describes the existence of people who were carried away by their worldly desires when they were alive, and after death they go to their own place. Here, there are strong winds that blow the denizens of Hell around. These winds are the thoughts that control us, rather than we controlling them.
I have mentioned before that people are influenced by factors that they have
no understanding of. It is an aspect of human behaviour, and arrogance, that
people will never admit, even to themselves, that they don't understand why
they do something.
There's a technique used by hypnotherapists called a post-hypnotic suggestion.
It works like this: under hypnosis the subject (the person being hypnotised)
is given the suggestion that when there is a certain trigger, they will carry
out a particular task. For example, when the hypnotist says the phrase ‘it may
rain’, the subject is told to take out an umbrella and open it in the middle
of the room. What happens is that when the subject carries out the suggestion,
they invariably rationalise it. They say something like ‘I just wanted to show
I wasn't superstitious’. Even when told that they were given a post-hypnotic
suggestion, some people will insist that that wasn't the reason that they did
it. We've all met these people who rationalise their own motives and simply
look stupid. Of course, we wouldn't do that would we?
I've mentioned before (‘Professional Incompetence’) that in order to learn you
have to have humility. If you are arrogant then you will not admit that you
don't know why you did something and therefore you will make excuses. This cuts
you off from real learning.
It’s been said: ‘Never attribute to malice that which you can attribute to incompetence’.
There is a relationship between lack of awareness, or incompetence, and evil.
This is why Dante saw those who lacked awareness in Hell. In previous articles
I've criticised people who think they are acting with the best of intentions
but because they lack an understanding of their own motives, and the consequences
of their actions, they end up doing far more harm then good. The road to Hell
is paved with good intentions.
