HOW IS THE HUMAN WHO KNOWS HIMSELF?

 

(This article was written by Alsibar, who has studied spiritual guides extensively, and the original text in Portuguese can be read at this link.)

What is self-knowledge? How does a person who knows themselves live and act? What is the relationship between self-knowledge and an individual's psychological and biological needs? Let's investigate together!

Self-knowledge is not a process with a beginning, middle, and end. It is not a course or a skill that is learned, mastered, and then forgotten. "One who knows oneself" is simply an expression used to refer to someone who has attained a profound understanding of the ego's limitations, functions, tricks, and illusions, and has managed to transcend them all.

The truth is that self-knowledge never ends; it's a dynamic, limitless, and infinite process. We live in constant flux. Our thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and reactions are in continuous motion. Situations, perceptions, and everything that passes through our consciousness—an infinite universe—are constantly renewed and recreated. And it is in this world of varied and infinite relationships that self-knowledge is attained.

One who has reached this state is fully self-aware. Their actions are in complete harmony with what they preach and teach, without the well-known contradictions and inconsistencies that characterize much of humanity. Therefore, they are not hypocritical; they cannot be. There is harmony within them, a perfect connection between mind, body, and spirit.

But this integration is not achieved through thought, for thought does not integrate, but rather disaggregates, separates, and fragments. Therefore, this person has become a true individual in the fullest sense of the word: undivided, in and of himself.

Those who know themselves are humble, not consciously or by force. They don't seek humility to gain the approval of others or divine blessings; their humility is a natural phenomenon, the result of their liberation from the ego. Within them resides an unknown and unexplored dimension, and it is from this perspective that they perceive the world around them.

The self-aware man lives in two distinct dimensions: the inner and the outer. Outwardly, he leads an ordinary life: he works, studies, loves, eats, drinks, sleeps, reads, and enjoys himself; he does everything a normal person does. But since his inner world is one of silence, peace, and harmony, this is reflected in how he treats people, life, and things in general.

However, it is impossible to describe it or predict its actions, because they are not based on the known or the predictable. They are like the river, like the wind, like nature: sometimes wild, sometimes orderly. Sometimes cosmos, sometimes chaos. Sometimes creation, sometimes destruction. Our thinking—logical and rational—cannot comprehend it or keep pace with it.

But one thing is certain: the self-aware person is freed from conflict, pain, anguish, doubt, arrogance, pride, and selfishness. Biological desires and human needs still accompany them, but they perceive them as fleeting phenomena, just like their thoughts, their emotions, and everything else in the universe.

Free from ignorance and blindness, he does not desire to be better or superior to anyone, for he no longer yearns to be "more" or better. He feels happy and content with himself, regardless of any situation or circumstance.

 This man is a true spiritualist. He will never claim to possess the Truth, or anything else, for he is free from the thoughts of "I" and "mine." Therefore, he accepts opposing opinions, since he is free from the illusion that there is an absolute truth. He doesn't need to "prove anything to anyone." He doesn't aspire to anything, nor does he wish to accumulate anything in heaven.

Therefore, he does not want to be a saint in the way society understands the term. He knows that as long as the ego exists, there can be no peace or paradise, neither in this world nor in any other. Consequently, his heaven and his treasures are an abundant and limitless peace that no amount of money can buy or pay for.

The self-aware man has transcended his psychological needs, not his biological ones. Therefore, he will not oppose pleasure, for it is part of life and the body's needs. He knows that the body has its own needs and its own rhythm of development.

Freeing oneself from the control of thought and ego does not mean denying the body. The body should be considered an instrument, a vehicle, or an animal from which we benefit and which, therefore, we must care for and protect so that it does not break, deteriorate, become ill, or die.

Those who know themselves will continue to act, fulfilling their part and their mission. But their minds will be completely free of the ego or the "false self," as the Bhagavad Gita says . They will live in awareness, in the clear perception of the here and now, which is timeless, eternal, and unfathomable. They are free, not because they believe it, but because they have transcended the limitations of thought through true self-knowledge.