It is one of many Latin variants for the phrase 'Know Thyself' (Know yourself) - It is so much more powerful and complicated than what people think.
I picked this up from the The Matrix movie, there is this sign subtly placed above a door when Neo goes to visit the Oracle. It is actually hard to miss.
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| If you missed it |
What do you think knowing yourself means? It is definitely not about knowing basics like your name and the place where you come from, and everything else that you require to fill out a form. Is it about maintaining a written catalog about how you behave in different situations? No, not that advanced.
According to me, knowing yourself is about keeping mental notes about the critical situations you have been through, and creating some of your own. How to create mental situation, our mind is exposed to so many things today: books, movies, news. Almost everyday you must stumble upon some situation where it is about choosing one path from an array of choices. That is when the frontal lobe of our brain comes into action, decision making. How do you expect to make a decision when you don't know yourself? All these criminals and the negativity which prevails in our surroundings, this comes from the root cause of not knowing yourself and having a false belief which further branches a flawed sense of justice.
What I find myself doing from time to time is giving myself a random situation, and think how I will respond in it, what decision I will make and justify it. This is the way your thinking expands. If you don't converse with yourself, how do you expect to make the right decision when you are talking to another brain? Our brain is so feeble, often it takes the road which seems easier, sometimes it takes the road which most people are taking, most of us - we don't know the reason for our actions. We just do it, because of our feeble minds. At least we should know the mental note we kept with regard to that decision. Else we are just doing what we all do before creating an online account or installing a software (I have READ and AGREED with the terms and conditions) - but life is not a software which can be re-installed or a Google account, which can be recreated. You just get one life, and you are straight away thrown into the fire where you have to adapt and learn accordingly.
People who don't think (and keep mental notes) - they are the ones who are easily manipulated into hurting themselves or their surroundings. You are the only 'You' in the universe. Don't do things, just because others are doing it. Respect your individuality. Think before you act. Justify your actions. Know yourself. The world will seem so much simpler then. Just try it.
