Path to All Knowledge and Wisdom

Kahlil Gibran writes about self knowledge in The Prophet:

Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge.
You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.
You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.
And it is well you should.
The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.
But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

I once heard a creation story that proceeds something like this:

When humans were first created they were created as divine beings. However, the behaviour of the new beings so annoyed the mature deities that they wished to take the divinity away from humans. When they realized that it was not within their power, the deities intended to hide the divinity of humans in a place where they would never find it. They considered places like the highest mountain or the deepest ocean. Each location was rejected since eventually humans would look there. Finally they choose the one place they thought humans would never think about looking --- in themselves!

A similar theme appears in the Gospel According to Thomas:

His disciples said to him, "When will the Kingdom come?" And Jesus said: "It will not come by expectation; they will not say, 'See here,' or 'See there.' But the Kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth and men do not see it."

If those who lead you say to you: "See, the Kingdom is in heaven," then the birds of the heaven will precede you. If they say to you: "It is in the sea," then the fish will proceed you. But the Kingdom is within you and is without you. If you will know yourselves, then you will be known and you will know that you are the sons of the Living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty and are poverty.

Deepak Chopra, in the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, explains that:

. . . each of us is here to discover our true Self, to find out on our own that our true Self is spiritual, that essentially we are spiritual beings that have taken monifestation in physical form. We're not human beings that have occassional spiritual experiences --- it's the other way around: we're spiritual beings having occasional human experiences.

Amber Wolfe from In the Shadow of the Shaman writes:

We blend wisdoms from every source to deepen our connection to Self, to Nature, and to Spirit. We come to know that only our experience can bring us shamanic wisdom. Only our own experience can illuminate us, protect us, and initiate us.

The common element in all of widely varying perspectives is you. Indeed, most of the wisdom literature throughout the ages suggest that we human beings have boundless potential within ourselves.

The materials presented in Exploring Cultures share valuable insights from divergent perspectives. Not all of the materials will speak to you directly. In all things, trust your inner self to be your guide.

--- Greg Dixon

See Introducing Exploring Cultures

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All Materials © Greg Dixon 1998. Last Modified September 18, 1998