Know Yourself

Do you truly know yourself?

Life is simply the process, or journey, of knowing yourself. The ultimate reason for life is self-discovery. Yet, many people spend their entire lives getting farther and farther away from their own true nature. Most people are constantly distorting their own idea of themselves, only because they do not know what they truly are. They are not even aware that this identity they hold of themselves is false, since they do not know their who they truly are. How can you expect someone to discover their true inner nature when they are constantly being distracted by society as well as constantly interacting with others who themselves also do not know their own true nature?

In this article, this false sense of self that almost everyone holds onto in place of truly knowing themselves will be referred to as the “false self”. I will discuss this issue more, but first I must answer the seemingly obvious question: why would anyone want to get to know their true self?

Only by knowing yourself can you ever understand and love others. This is not a superficial understanding of others. I am talking about feeling your deep, divine connection with each and every person that you come across in your life. When you truly understand yourself, you cannot help but feel a powerful, unconditional love for yourself. This love is so powerful that it breaks all boundaries between yourself and others. When you truly love and know yourself (Note: the powerful feeling of loving yourself only arises when you have come to know yourself) you stop seeing people’s false sense of self, instead you see everyone as a beautiful soul. When you are in contact with someone, you know without a doubt that they are you and that you are them.

The self that you must come to know is not an artificial creation of the mind. Rather it is the mind itself. We go through life projecting who we think we are. This false self is nothing more than an artificial creation of the mind, yet we fully believe that this is who we are. No! This is a projection of the barbaric society humanity has created for itself.

This false self is the person you project in hopes that somehow you are projecting your deep, divine self. Once again, you do not consciously project this false self. Instead you are mistaken and have not come to know your true inner nature. The false self is the person that others (who also do not know their own true nature) bring out of you. You act and think with this false sense of self completely oblivious to your true inner nature.

Even though you may have lived your entire life thinking of yourself with a false identity, does not mean that you cannot come to know yourself. In fact, we must all eventually come to know our own true inner nature. Most people spend their entire lives running away from their true selves, only to come crashing back to knowing themselves through the transition that we call death.

As a side note, your false self is the only thing that dies in death. It is the reason we fear death, because our true selves are unknown. All we know is our false self and we know that one day we will lose this false sense of self. On the other hand, the true self cannot possibly die, nor could it ever be born. It has always been. The true self is the Infinite Being at the heart of your soul. It is your Essence. God has always been a symbol of the true self.

Modern society is made up of distractions. These distractions consume our lives. They ensure that we remain oblivious to our true inner nature. Almost every pastime or activity that you can name is a distraction! This even includes working and accomplishing goals (when the purpose of the accomplishment is not the process of accomplishing the goal, but the reason behind it is to get you somewhere you think you want to go).

Even most spiritual growth or personal development information is a distraction. When you are holding a false sense of self, this information feeds it. Although, these distractions may help to give you clues as to your true nature, they cannot directly trigger self-realization. The only source of truth you have in your life is your own inner nature. Although these information products may guide you, the path to knowing yourself is a personal and intimate journey. I cannot come close to explaining the true nature of yourself, especially when you mistakenly believe that you are the false self.

I strongly urge you to dedicate yourself to understanding the inner workings of your mind. If you choose this path, you must pursue it with an unrelenting passion for the mind as well as an openness to the unexpected and unbelievable intricacies of its true nature. This is how you will come to know your true nature. Do whatever it takes! If enough of us choose this path of running towards ourselves (instead of away), the next great age of humanity will arise from self-knowledge (which leads to a true, unconditional self-love). We have so much to learn from the workings of our own mind.

Society as we know it is fundamentally flawed. The false self is a result of this sick society. And, the false self is also what keeps us from recognizing the deep flaws in our current ways of living (or society in general). As you can tell, this creates a vicious circle that perpetuates the false sense of self and our barbaric society. Truly knowing ourselves is the only way we can ever transform society. Humanity must literally awaken to its own true nature in order for us to create a new world. Actually, once humanity realizes its true self we will not have a choice in created a new world. We will not be able to live in the old ways of being which were created as a result of being mistaken about our own true identity

In order for the path of self-discovery to have an impact on whom you think you are, you must minimize the distractions in your life. Spend at least a few hours every week with absolutely no distractions. This means you simply be. You do not do anything and you do not try to get anywhere. Just be still and completely open to WHATEVER (including nothing) happens. Let go of all the resistance you are not even aware of holding. Open up to your own self. Look into your mind and do not judge what you see. If boredom (a projection of the false self) sets in, simply observe it. Completely surrender to the boredom. Do not choose to be distracted.

Chances are you have been living a distracted life and it is all you know. This can always change, but you must be the source of the change. Spend time with yourself. If you do this enough eventually you will surrender to all uncomfortableness (a result of the false self) that sets in when you are not distracted. Once this takes place you will initiate your magical journey of truly knowing your own inner nature.

The process of knowing yourself is a continuous one. I highly doubt that there is an end to self-discovery. The true journey of knowing the deep, inner nature of your own mind can be difficult to initiate. But once started, I can’t imagine it ever stopping. Your thirst for true self-discovery will never again be satisfied. Each day, in every way, you will come to love yourself more and more. This will have a profound impact on everyone you come in contact with. This wave of self-love will begin to radiate through society. Eventually vibrating to a level where society will be transformed. Remember, this is all a result of knowing the inner workings of your own mind.

The good news and the bad news is that there are no set-rules or guidelines for self-discovery. You must simply learn to surrender to your own mind. It may be helpful to acknowledge and reaffirm your intent to know yourself everyday. When it is right you will know exactly what your next step is. Go within, tune in to the “center” of your mind and simply listen. Listen intently and passionately, with absolutely no bias or expectations at all!

The only source of truth we have in life is our own inner nature. We are all on a journey of self-discovery. Once you get past all of your false needs and desires (the internal result of this false sense of identity) you will come to know whom you truly are.

It is a very personal process that you must painstakingly go through. Nobody can possibly tell you who you truly are. This includes you (or rather who you think you are). Stop trying to tell yourself who you are and truly listen within. Right now, you have the potential to realize that you simply are. At the very least, please never forget this potential within you.

Love,

Jason Randhawa