Know Thy Self..

Know Thy self.....

The Ancient Greek aphorism "Know thyself", was inscribed in the ‘pronaos’ (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi - according to the Greek ‘periegetic, (travelogue) writer Pausanias.

The maxim, or aphorism, 'Know Thyself' has had a variety of meanings attributed to it in literature. The Suda, a 10th Century encyclopedia of Greek Knowledge, says: "the proverb is applied to those whose boasts exceed what they are," and that "know thyself" is a warning to pay no attention to the opinion of the multitude.

An opinion shared by proponents of the Christian faith, with Paul saying, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But set your mind to be right-minded, even as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.”(Romans 12:3)

While deliberating on the above aphorism and its many uses and application through both history and literature, I was afforded the opportunity for an introspection of life in retrospect and this piece came up. Many of us sail through without ever pausing to realize what changes and transformations have taken place, we move and live on unaware of the minor transformations that have major implications on our life.

Knowing yourself is the tool necessary to locate you on your road map of self-allotted space-time coordinates in your plan and purpose of life. Knowing where you currently stand enables you to determine the work that needs to be done to achieve where you want to be. Though the criteria for the aphorism’s many a reechoing in history have differed the purpose has been singular, and it is to know where you stand. In biblical significance, Paul speaks of being able to judge yourself soberly or accurately by being able to judge the measure of faith given you, it’s interesting to note that he speaks about this before expatiating on the purpose of individuals in the corporate body of Christ, that we all being different have each a unique role to play and our ability to determine our function is in knowing our gifts and the measure of faith given us, again the reecho of knowing yourself. To be able to function properly we all ought to judge ourselves soberly and to determine who we are accurately. Without pausing to take a breather or a look back we risk becoming someone we never intended to be.

“For man to know himself is for him to feel that for him there is no human master. For him Nature is his servant, and whatsoever he wills in Nature, that shall be his reward. If he wills to be a pigmy, a serf or a slave, that shall he be. If he wills to be a real man in possession of the things common to man, then he shall be his own sovereign. When man fails to grasp his authority he sinks to the level of the lower animals, and whatsoever the real man bids him do, even as if it were of the lower animals, that much shall he do.”- Marcus Garvey (Know Thy Self)

The piece below depicts the imagery of a man overtaken by the tides of events and unable to recognize who he is and no longer able to determine what he stands for….enjoy.

Man in the mirror

Once in the mirror I looked

A vision I beheld

A man who stood five foot of bliss

As though no goal he’d miss

Untainted by what was soon to be the progression of time

Now a sketch pad of marks etched on by no other villain than time

Each wrinkle behind, a story did conceal

And every line a lesson did reveal

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As I stared, eyes did stare back

Now its former intensity does it lack

A stare full of purpose once did it resonate

And through his very core did it once reverberate

Now I see eyes lacking any purpose

And a demeanour of zest-less compose

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Once a vision of arms that knew no toil

Now a vision of hands ranked with those of evil soil

I knew him who stood before me

Or I thought I did momentarily

For he looked familiar

And to say I was not deceived would make me a liar

For though the same he did seem in stature

Yet in essence he did differ

For his scars spoke of the terrors he once did suffer

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Neither a glare nor a blank stare I beheld

But one throbbing from the singular question it held:

“If we’re the sum of our experiences then who have I become?”