Know Thyself

Know Thyself
- Socrates

To Thine Own Self Be True
- Shakespeare

"Know Thyself" was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal
of the new world, "Be Thyself" shall be written.
- Oscar Wilde


"When the day comes that I must account for my life, I will not be asked: `Why
weren't you Moses?' I was not equipped to be Moses.
But I dread the question, `Why weren't you Zusia?'
—Reb Zusia of Anipoli

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of
ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.
- Quentin Crisp

I started writing a book "13 moons and one day", about how to be a witch. The
first chapter is all about me, myself and I.

You have been created to be you, a perfect you, just the way you are. You are
not to be like someone else, like anyone else.

Your dreams are your own, your hopes, your ambitions, all your own. No-one else
shares those exact same dreams, hopes and ambitions with you. These dreams are
given to you, to fit you as a glove, for you to reach out for, for you to make
real, because you are the only person in the world who can do that.
A lot of people waste their time by trying to be someone else, trying to reach
someone else's goals, trying to look like someone else.

I don't think "The Secret" is worth much in that it is very heavily
concentrating on secundary things, like money, house, things to own and so on.
What is good about it is that it makes you think about what YOU want. What YOU
want is unique and personal. What YOU want is what YOU are created to get. The
Universe, Goddess, WANTS you to get what you want, because She put in that want
in you. Your whole life experience, with the good and the bad things, have been
given to you only so that you would want what you do want.

In many religions wanting is seen as something bad, unwanted, but even those
people want. They might want enlightenment and Nirvana, they might want Kingdom
Come, they might want a deeper experience of God, but those too are wants,
unique and own to these people.

There is nothing bad in wanting itself. The bad comes in when you start
believing you want something that you don't really want. Most people do quite
fine without being millionaires. Most people want the money to be able to pay
for their food, electricity, home, transport... perhaps some entertainment,
clothes, things... Think about what you want the money for. There are many ways
of getting what you want without money.
Might be that you have an aunt you didn't know you have, who dies and leaves you
her house.
One of my favorite children's books was a story about two girls, best friends,
who were given a house of their own. This eccentric millionaire loved to build
houses, but she always built them "unfit" for her - this specific house was
build for two little girls :-D The house was already fully decorated and there
were even pretty clothes in the closet for the girls.
Now, we think that will never happen in "real life", and it is quite possible
that that won't happen, but it is also possible that it might happen. Miracles
do happen. So concentrate on wanting the house in stead.
Perhaps you don't really want a house. Perhaps you want an apartment in stead.
Perhaps you want a houseboat. Or gypsy wagon. Or something else. You want to
live in the forest in a tent the rest of your life. Or in a treehouse, like
Tolkien's elves.

How little do we know that which we are! How less what we may be!
- Lord Byron

Study the heart and the mind of man, and begin with your own. Meditation and
reflection must lay the foundation of that knowledge, but experience and
practice must, and alone can, complete it.
- Lord Chesterfield

Observe all men; thy self most.
- Benjamin Franklin