Dear One,
On the occasion of my 70th birthday, I was asked:
“Do you have any words of wisdom?”
Pausing, I then offered, “No, I don’t think so.”
As a rejoinder, I then heard, “That’s a true sign of wisdom.”
Whether a sign of wisdom, I’ll let you decide, but that brief exchange prompted me to reflect further:
Nearly fifty years ago, the first Greek sentence I learned was that attributed to Aeschylus :“Know yourself” ( γνῶθι σεαυτόν), advice which I then found sound. However, what appeared first as sound has proven difficult to achieve. That is, the beguiling simplicity of this imperative does not address the equally simple question: How? How are we to gain this knowledge? Is it acquired only through experience, as the Greek verb in this instance implies?
Similarly, in his Institutes John Calvin addressed this same issue:
“Nearly all the wisdom we possess … consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern … Yet, however the knowledge of God and of ourselves may be mutually connected, the order of right teaching requires that we discuss the former first, then proceed afterward to treat the latter.”
Over the years, as I have observed myself and others, when once we first seek self-knowledge, we soon discover that this course becomes a self-centered highway terminating in a narcissistic bog. As Calvin acknowledged, it’s not that we should eschew self-knowledge, not at all; rather, there is a knowing which precedes our self-knowledge and is external to ourselves, whereby we gain a reflective perspective. Or, if you will allow, only when we become selfless—given to something or someone beyond ourselves—do we gain a true self-knowledge.
If you will further allow, Jesus spoke of “self-knowledge,” but in terms of love:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength … and you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31).
Here too, as with Calvin, an inter-connection between God and self exists; here too the priority begins with God only to lead to others, including the self; but here, given the first step, an unending triangulation of love follows.
Perhaps, with my 80th birthday, if asked for a word of wisdom, I might reply:
“Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself—this is the knowledge that lasts.”
I wonder: Where are you in knowing and loving yourself?
Still learning,
Stan