To paraphrase a few online dictionaries, ‘self-awareness’ means that you are
conscious of your own independent existence, including your personality and your
feelings. Seems simple enough at first glance. In fact, genuine self-awareness is so
difficult that true insight into the nature of the self could be said to be the ultimate
goal of spiritual practice. And to make matters worse, Buddhism argues that the self
has no independent existence anyway. It’s all very confusing, but don’t blame
Eastern mysticism. Socrates was famous for saying, “The only thing I know is that I
don’t know.” To cut a long story short, radical self-doubt is the only valid starting
point for a journey of self-awareness.
Tim Casteling
Part of a 7 part series on Self-Awareness
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