“Know thyself” is perhaps the oldest, wisest, deepest, and most succinct spiritual instruction ever given. In fact, it is our nature to know ourselves. To one degree or another, each of us is born with the inner longing to seek out and to discover our true essence. However, almost from the very beginning of our young lives our efforts are misdirected. Our hopes and aspirations for meaningful answers are placed outside of us. So, instead of pursuing the “pearl of great price” lying within us, we wind up pursuing people, places, and things that we hope will finally be able to reveal to us just who we are. Yet, no acquisition, or any sense of self its pursuit may provide, brings us that permanent sense of self we desire. It cannot, for that outer world, by its very nature, is nothing but continuous change. This is why, if we want to find ourselves, there is no substitute for self-study.

Self-study is what leads to coming to know ourselves as we truly are. It is the only way we become familiar with the thought self and its many fleeting identities. Self-study is how we begin empowering ourselves not to just automatically go where every sense of self would lead us. As a higher benefit, our self-study allows us to hear and heed that still small voice within us which not only corrects our life course, but connects us to ever higher and happier experiences along the way.