Self-knowledge is the Knowledge of Know Thyself
This is exactly what the ancient explorers of inner truth, both Eastern and Western, did. The Buddha observed and studied his own mind, and developed methods of meditation that enabled others to do the same. Almost all of Indian philosophy and spirituality begins, and ends, with the study of the self, the atman. The Delphic injunction, “Know thyself,” became through Socrates and Plato the primary foundational principle of the Western wisdom tradition, which in turn became central for Neoplatonism: “To find ourselves is to know our source.” (Plotinus, Enneads, p. 544.) Christian spirituality, as seen through the teachings of the desert fathers, begins with the knowing of the soul and the purification of the soul that is needed for it to mirror or be receptive to divine inspiration. The cornerstone of Islamic spirituality and philosophy is the saying attributed to God: “Whoso knoweth himself knoweth his lord. – The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality , Notes
What is this self we want to know? Some spiritual traditions say there is no self, that it is an illusion or delusion, that enlightenment dissolves the self like the sun dissolves the fog. But, there is still a body, with perception, and needs walking around, talking, and eating. So, who or what is doing all of that?
A real self?
So what is the practice of being real? It is the same as the practice of being oneself. To be real means, “I am not an idea of myself. I am not pretending to be myself. I am not being in reaction to something or someone or their image of me. I am being what I actually am.” But it is not as though one can just stop being unreal and start being oneself. After all, who knows what that actually means? How are you going to try to be yourself? It is not as though you have many selves on a shelf, and you can take the real one down and put it on. – The Unfolding Now, ch. 2
In the Diamond Approach, nothing is given, but much is taken.
One meaning is that the Diamond Approach does not say, “This is reality!” Perception and knowing of reality cannot be given, only unveiled.
The Great Barriers to Being
One could make a very long list of things in the way of just being, but they would all be subsets under ego identity and ego activity. In a sense, we have been disconnected from our true identity, of being simply being. We’re lost in the role of us, the familiar, historical self of memories, beliefs, history, and body.
All of these, and more, are extensions of being. So in doing inner work, we become aware of that little kid, the ego identity that believes it is something from the past. We explore that sense of deficiency and experience countless resolutions, but that alone is not enough to actualize the real life. We’re going to have to start to behave from those experiences if we want to live a real life. Because we’re habitually identified with it, the ego identity will not simply dissolve by dint of awareness. We have to actively disidentify from the ego. Our mind will have to think of things from the new perspective, our heart will have to feel from the new perspective, and our body will have to act from the new perspective. – Diamond Heart Book Five: Inexhaustible Mystery, ch. 8