Know Thyself
Know Thyself
by Bro. Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744)
member of the Lodge held at the Goat, Haymarket, LondonKnow then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act or rest,
In doubt to deem himself a God or Beast,
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reasoning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such
Whether he thinks too little or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused, or disabused;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!
Centuries later, Neo is led into the kitchen of an apartment. A woman is baking cookies. He breaks a vase. Above the door is a sign that reads Temet Nosce.
“You know what that means? It’s Latin. Means, Know Thyself”
So the Oracle in the movie “The Matrix” explains to the young hero the words which can also be found in Masonic Temples around the world. Sometimes written Nosce te ipsum, they are Latin translations of a Greek phrase inscribed on the Temple of Apollo, the god of Truth, at Delphi.
It is not known for sure who originated this maxim. It has been attributed to Socrates, Pythagoras and at least three of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece: Chilon of Sparta, Thales of Miletes, and Solon of Athens. And yet what better advice could be given the learner?
According to Thales of Miletes (c. 624 - 546 BCE) , a happy man is one
“Who is healthy in body, resourceful in soul and of a readily teachable nature”
Solon of Athens (c. 638 - 558 BCE) wished in his poems that he "Each day grew older, and learnt something new".
Pythagoras of Samos (c. 580 - 500 BCE) who, although he wasn’t one of the famed seven sages did found a secret school of Mysteries in Crotone, in what is now Sicily, also placed a high value on the learner’s self:
“Above the cloud with its shadow is the star with its light. Above all things reverence thyself.”
And thousands of miles away, also in the 6th century BCE, the Chinese sage Lao-tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching:
“He who knows others is learned;
He who knows himself is wise.”
The Seven Sages were professional teachers; they dispensed wisdom. This was the standard way to teach until Socrates (c. 470 - 399 BCE) shattered it by his method in which the learner and teacher ask questions and discuss together.
However, even his pupil, Plato (427 - 347 BCE), echoes the Oracle:
“I must first know myself, as the Delphian inscription says; to be curious about that which is not my concern, while I am still in ignorance of my own self would be ridiculous.”
And so by the sheer weight of ancient advice, the Mason is enjoined to “Know Thyself”
But how does one start? M.W. Bro. Benjamin Franklin summed it up in 1740 in Poor Richard’s Almanac:
“Observe all men; thy self most.”
Bro. Philip D. Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield, advised his son in a letter of June 6, 1751:
“Study the heart and the mind of man, and begin with your own. Meditation and reflection must lay the foundation of that knowledge, but experience and practice must, and alone can, complete it.”
R.W. Bro. W. L. Wilmshurst (1867 - 1939) elaborates in “Masonic Initiation”:
“It has already been shown that the structure and appointments of the Lodge are symbolic; that the Lodge is a representation both of the Universe and of man himself as a Microcosm or the Universe in miniature; that it is an image of his own complex constitution, his heavens and his earth (his spirituality and materiality) and all that therein is.”
“By contemplating that image, therefore, the Mason learns to visualize himself; he is given a first lesson in that self-knowledge in the full attainment of which is promised the understanding of all things. "Know thyself," we have said, was written over the portals of the ancient temples of Initiation, self-knowledge being the aim of their intention and the goal of their purpose. Masonry perpetuates this maxim by recommending self-knowledge as "the most interesting of all human studies." It is the tersest, wisest of instructions, yet little heeded nowadays, and it is incapable of fulfillment unless undertaken in accordance with the ancient science and with a concentration of one's whole energies upon the task.”
“It involves the deepest introspection into oneself and perfect discrimination between what is real and permanent, and what is unreal and evanescent in ourselves. As aspirants to the Mysteries could not learn the secrets of the Temple without entering it, learning its lessons, undergoing its disciplines, and receiving its graduated initiations, so no one can attain self-knowledge save by entering into himself, distinguishing the false from the true, the unreal from the real, the base metal from the fine gold, sublimating the former into the latter, and ignoring what is negligible or superfluous.”
“Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.”
-- Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658)
-- created for the Curriculum Group, Grand Lodge Masonic Education Committee