"Know thyself" urged the ancient Greek philosopher, Thales. "…..Only he who knows the "Self", goes beyond sorrow", says an Indian seer. We do try but to a striking extent that self remains a `stranger'. Knowing the self is, perhaps, "the most difficult lesson in the world". Clearly, then, a man must learn how to live on good terms with that `stranger', for he is his companion with whom he must share every thought, every emotion, and every experience. He should know how to manage and control that `stranger' and even improve himself.
Are we, as our name—Homo sapiens—indicates, wise human beings? Are we, as Hamlet proclaimed, "noble in reason, infinite in faculty! … in apprehension like a god", or as Eliot remarked, with a "Head peace filled with straw?"
True, reflections of this kind obviously leave one in doubt of him self. And axioms such as— "three things extremely hard in the universe—Steel, a Diamond, and to know one's self" will only strengthen one's doubts further. Yet, all is not lost for there are others, that, too, in large numbers who still believe that there is only one in the universe which we know more about and that one thing is "ourselves". Contradictions apart, knowing one self is perhaps achievable, though difficult—at least for those whose emotional quotient is high. Let us now therefore explore what EI—the constituent of emotional quotient is, and assess how it matters in bettering our lives vis-à-vis the Indian understanding of the `Self' and its clarion call for march towards `Sthitaprajna'. |
