Know Thy Self. Be true to self. Live Integrity

Know thy Self..inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and attributed to various well-known Greek sages…..

But why so important to know thy Self?

How true are we to ourselves? Seriously?

And what is the true nature of the “I”?

I used to think, before I became a mum, that babies came into the world as a blank canvas, and then we ‘imprinted’ on them their character. How wrong was I? Each child comes into the world so firmly stamped with their own beingness. Just as each cat, dog, or bird has its own character. Our job as parents and teachers is not to alter the uniqueness, but to allow its fullest brilliance to shine. To hold a space for the fullest flourishing of the already present pattern integrity.

But there is the rub. Over the course of our lives, from infancy to young adulthood, our integrity gets tampered with in so many ways.

Most of us have forgotten who we really are. The seed that was born in us is half-formed, or buried, or squashed.

And then we get confused…Am I this, or that?

Who am I? Why am I here? And what is my purpose?

Sometimes we don’t pause to ask these questions until we are well into the journey of our life…often this pause is instigated by a crisis…someone dies, we lose our job, get a divorce…and then we find a moment to ask how we got here….why don’t my children know who I am…what is my purpose? And what the %$#&%$!! point?

We then spend the next period of our lives removing the rubbish, the learned behaviours, the acts, the masks, going on an inner archeological dig. “Who am I?” is the driving force.  We are searching for our unique pattern integrity.

The deepest nature of our soul is what we are after. This is the level of truth to which I speak. It will also be the aspect of self that will be challenged the most by our needs and desires of our more surface, egoic selves.

And this is where Integrity is found. It is our wholeness…us as Universe. Complete.

Authenticity is not some new-age word easily used in self-help classrooms… it is big, hard work… it takes the most rigorous self-awareness plus mountains of courage… the courage to say yes to our soul and no to our temptations.

And we will be tempted…again and again…and we will weaken…again and again. This is the human journey.

This is why we so adore and admire people who say yes to their soul and no to their lesser egoic desires and needs…the Nelson Mandelas, Gandhi’s, Buckminster Fuller’s. Positive Deviants all. Because they remind us of what we are longing for….and what we are capable of. To live in our fullest expression of integrity.

The fullest, most honest expression of who you are. Against the odds.

Some questions to consider as you remember your always present but deeply buried integrity…please share in the comments.

Is knowing your Self important to you?

I know my life is about integrity…I love and curse my teacher, Bucky, in equal measure. His stand for integrity was total. I long at times to just stop…and break my own vows. And sometimes I do.

What are your inner truths? What do you believe in…or stand for…that you will and do pay a high price for?

And finally, how committed are you to knowing your true self…to doing the inner work, the self inquiry, the listening, the silence…the writing…to really know thy self?