To begin this introduction to my own “common sense” approach to this subject, let me suggest at the outset that it involves two questions: What is it we are to know, and How are we to know it? So this issue turns on What and How!

If one turns to Socrates, the issue was connected to the theory of “reminiscence.” Since in his ontology the soul pre-existed, therefore knowledge—the “what,”—was there to be discovered. The method, as the dialogues show, was in question-and-answer, in this case between the soul and itself.  Both of these are transferrable beyond the Socratic/Platonic myth to our own “dialogue”—the “how”—with our mind/soul responsible for discovering the “memories”—the “whats”—that are the key to self-knowledge (See Sources Consulted/Cited).

Achieving self-knowledge is obviously not something given to us at birth—as Mitchell Green puts it, “it’s not an achievement you get for free like a high IQ or a prominent chin” (See Sources Consulted/Cited). In fact, acquiring knowledge about yourself, understanding yourself, is a lifelong task and I doubt there would ever be a point at which one could say, “Ah! Now I fully know myself.” This is more likely a process that we can pursue, and continue to benefit from, our entire lives. As one writer put it, “The whole thing can suck for a little while” but then it gets better, and like anything else, a little hard work at the start can pay dividends in abundance for the rest of your life (See Sources Consulted/Cited).

I will come to the “What” issue shortly, but I want to generalize a bit on the “How.” 

• To jump back a bit to a recent series of posts, developing empathetic skills is a useful part of “How” we navigate the path to self-knowledge because it allows me to see myself through someone else’s eyes.  If I can to some extent “walk in your shoes,” I have the chance to see some things that are difficult to see from the first-person perspective.
• Knowing yourself is also about understanding you – the human being – on deeper levels than the surface. Know what makes you the same as, and different from, others.
• And then there are a whole series of “how” words that we will encounter any number of times, so let me run some of them past you just for the sake of familiarity and recognition when they “pop up:”  know(ing){a biggie!}, processing, respecting, understanding, believe, ask yourself, stay true, glorify (instead of hiding), be introspective/look inward, feedback, remember, wonder. Perhaps enough, for now, but expect them, look for them!

Turning now to a brief survey of the “whats” that appear in some of the many sources that explore the Know Thyself topic, let me offer first an interesting quotation from R. G. Collingwood, the well-known philosopher and historian, with the caveat that I have rephrased a bit the common-to-his-time use of gender-specific language:

Knowing yourself means knowing,

·       first, what it is to be a man/person;

·       secondly, what it means to be the kind of man/person you are;

·       thirdly, knowing what it is to be the man/person you are and nobody else is—

the value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man/ humankind has done and thus what man/humankind is (from The Idea of History, p. 10, emphasis mine).

As I offered some of the references to the “How” of Knowing Thyself, here is a rather dizzying list of the many allusions to “What” needs to be discovered in this process of self-knowledge:

·       Values, beliefs, personality, priorities, habits, relationships, “magnificent” body, traits, principles, limitations.

·       Self-doubts and insecurities, strengths and weaknesses, passions and fears, desires and dreams, eccentricities and idiosyncrasies, likes and dislikes, moral codes, what makes you react.

So how does one make sense out this almost embarrassing plethora of “Hows” and “Whats” that—if taken literally—must be explored on this journey to knowing ourselves?  Well, allow me to introduce you to the elements I have chosen (with additions, deletions, redefinitions, etc. held in reserve) to comprise the “Whats” –reduced, I trust, to a reasonable list—that I have opted to call my “Common Sense Approach” to what it means to “Know Yourself”—and the “Hows” will emerge as we attempt to explore the basic components I have selected. In other words, it’s at least a place to start.

• Know your mind: what it is and what it does—what occupies it, what do you think about?  what do you “know?” what do you “believe?” what are your mental strengths and weaknesses?
• Know your body: what are your capabilities and strengths? limitations and weaknesses? needs and wants?
• Know your (primary) emotional and personality type(s) [See Sources consulted/cited] (Yes, I know there are a “host” of other typologies—e.g. openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism; average, reserved, self-centered and role model—and one could go on and on. I simply found the ones offered here to recognize a workable set of traits for my purposes.):
  • Goal-oriented, risk taking, good under stress – “Director”
  • Relationship-oriented, outgoing, enthusiastic – “Socializer”
  • Detail-oriented, logical, prepared – “Thinker”
  • Task-oriented, cautious, stabilizing – “Supporter”

If you had to put together a “symbiotic” type representative of you, what are the 3 or 4 characteristics you would choose from the four types?

• Know your values and your ethical stance: on what basis do you make a decision about what you will do in a situation with “moral weight?” What are the 2 or 3 “principles” you think/believe you could never compromise?
• Know your major likes and dislikes: what are they and why do you have them? Do you think they can be “cultivated” or are generic?
• Know your “soul”: the parenthetical use of “soul” is deliberate. I’m not assuming we have a “soul” in the traditional sense. Leaving the issue of afterlife aside (dealt with, if you wish, above in what you choose to believe), know the things usually attributed to “soul”—compassion; harmony; appreciation for and experience of beauty (in nature, art, literature, other people); “rapturous” experiences such as quiet reverence, meditation, and intimate relationships; the celebration of mystery and the nourishment of the “spirit” (we’ll have to come back to that term!).
• Know, or try to discern, what makes you distinctively—if not uniquely—your “own” person.

Are there some things missing from this “common sense” approach? Of course—including, as noted earlier, the “Hows”—but perhaps some of them will appear as we “unpack” the elements I have chosen to address.  Which is precisely what I will begin to do in the next post, which is also the point at which these reflections will become more personal, sharing my own journey at each these levels of trying to “know myself!”

I hope you will stay with us.

Sources Consulted/Cited

Socrates:Know Thyself, The-Philosophy.com.

Understanding the 4 Personality Types (Adapted from Hippocrates, Fromm, Myers-Briggs, et.al.), Hire Success,[website].

Charles H. Green, “Know Yourself. Wait, what does that even mean?” November 7, 2016, Trust Matters Blog:

    Trusted Advisor [website].

Anna Katharina Schaffner, Ph.D. “What’s So Great About Self Knowledge? 5 reasons why understanding ourselves is essential for psychological growth.” Psychology Today, May 25, 2020