Welcome to the first article in an ongoing Inner Wisdom series that will address the eternal question: Who am I?
According to legend, this famous saying was carved on a stone at the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece, in the 8th century B.C. It was one of over 100 dictums carved in various parts of the temple. But the instruction to know oneself is the most famous.
While the temple did not survive, this instruction to humanity did.
Socrates famously took the concept a step further. Around 400 BC, he proclaimed something that furthered the infamy of the quotation.
Socrates famously took the concept a step further. Around 400 BC, he proclaimed something that furthered the infamy of the quotation.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
During his time of teaching in Greece, around 350 BC, Aristotle stated:
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
While the concept of knowing ourselves has been a guiding principle for humanity for generations, it seems that humanity has not made a great deal of progress in the past thousands of years.
We are still wondering: Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? And what happens to me when I’m not here?
The meaning of the Delphi directive has been debated by humans for eons. But it seems clear that it can be taken on multiple levels. One of the broadest interpretations is that we should seek to understand ourselves on multiple levels — including physical, psychic, and spiritual.
Yet it is not clear — at least to modern humans — what exact knowledge this advice is telling us to acquire and, importantly, how to acquire it.
It has been reported that Socrates interpreted it to mean know yourself, including who you are and what you stand for.
One anonymous person expanded on this definition with a more esoteric meaning:
“To know for yourself, to learn firsthand … to seek, search, prove, and find. If truth is knowledge of things as they are, were, and are to come, then the path to truth is inquiry.”
To me, this is a great description. It speaks to my understanding of the imperative of knowing ourselves while we are conscious human beings.
I contend that knowing our self is a quest — not of learning, but of remembering. Somewhere deep inside each of us, we already know who we are. But we have lost touch with that inner wisdom. We must seek to remember who we are.
Remembering is a process that involves gathering the right wisdom. Wisdom that will help spark our inner memory of who we are, as well as where we are and why we are here
To this end, I am embarking on my own journey of self-discovery. I will share what I find in this series of articles. Key topics I’ll be pursuing include (but are not limited to):
I am excited about embarking on this journey of self-discovery. I’m curious to know what insight, knowledge, and wisdom I will find along the way.
Will you join me on this adventure of remembering who and what we are?
The next blog post in this series will dive into the different ways that different spiritual systems define our soul.
Aya Ray is an author, archivist, and educator of mystic spirituality. Contact her for interviews and articles.
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