Self Knowledge
Before we go into battle, along with understanding our worldview, we must know our own character, limitations, strengths and our spiritual anatomy. This self-awareness is the first step towards awareness of God.
Getting to know ourselves does not refer to our favorite color, books, or foods, nor to our worldview. Those are personal preferences. Self-knowledge is awareness of our spiritual condition. It is the practice of observing with honesty and clarity the movements inside our soul, heart, mind and desires. It is the discovery of our true self, and our relationship to God. Such observation digs deep into the root causes behind the movements in the mind and heart that take away our peace.
Regarding self-knowledge and knowing God, St. Gregory Palamas († AD 1359) said in The Philokalia:
To know God truly insofar as this is possible is incomparably superior to the philosophy of the Greeks, and similarly to know what place man has in relation to God surpasses all their wisdom.
St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria in Egypt († AD 373) summed it up succinctly when he said, “No one can know God without knowing himself.” Here he identifies a direct correlation between self-knowledge and knowledge of God. This capacity is built into our very being, and is that which makes humans starkly different from other creatures. As the eighteenth-century German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz intuited:
…it is the knowledge of necessary and eternal truths that distinguishes us from the mere animals and gives us Reason and the sciences, raising us to the knowledge of ourselves and of God. And it is this in us that is called the rational soul or mind.
Perhaps one of the most influential persons in history, St. Anthony the Great († AD 356), the Egyptian hermit who inspired St. Athanasius, expanded this to include knowledge of the created world and love for all things when he said:
Whoever has a correct knowledge of himself, also has a correct knowledge of the creatures which God brought [into being] out of nothing; he likewise knows the dignity of the noetic and immortal human spirit…And whoever knows this, knows that one must love God; and whoever loves God, loves everyone.
St. Anthony harmonizes the human person with God’s creation, and with God by way of self-knowledge, which leads to love.
Although self-knowledge seems like it should come very naturally to all sane people, it is extremely elusive. It may even seem illogical, but there are many people who plow through their entire lives without ever getting to know themselves at all. However, those who dig deep inside themselves and discover their inner motivations have a huge advantage in finding peace and happiness. St. Augustine of Hippo († AD 430), another great influencer in history put it this way:
It is important for every person to be sufficiently present to himself in order to hear and follow the voice of his conscience. This requirement of interiority is all the more necessary as life often distracts us from any reflection, self-examination or introspection. Return to your conscience; question it. Turn inward, brethren, and in everything you do see God as your witness.
The process of getting to know yourself can at times be enlightening and at other times it can be frightening. Prying open the soul and taking a hard look at oneself is not easy. Usually we don’t like what we see, at least in the beginning. It is especially difficult and horrifying for adults who are embarking on this later in life. It requires letting go of one’s self will—brutal honesty, humility, inner prayer and lots of unseen warfare. St. Isaac of Syria stresses the connection between self-knowledge and humility: