Know Thyself

Written by Tayria Ward on April 23, 2010

These words inscribed above the door of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi proclaim the most obvious and the most difficult of any person’s tasks on this Earth. How can the question of “Who am I?” ever be answered? We are literally made of the same stuff as the stars, the “space” in us is as big as all space, we are a composite of personal, ancestral and collective genetic information, where we have come from and where we are going is up for anyone’s guess yet it matters to most of us deeply in ways we can never seem to resolve, we’re composed of lots of unconsciousness and a tiny bit of consciousness, past-present-future are all illusions, time doesn’t exist really, nor does space as we think of it – and I”m supposed to get up in the morning and know how to direct my energies effectively? I’m having a tantrum at this moment obviously.

Know Thyself. The “S”elf is the all, and the “s”elf is the particular, and they are not different from each other but they are. I am not stoned but I feel stoned. I found my paper about the Trickster. It was written in 1994 and needs a lot of updating, but I was intrigued to find this little poem I had written back then.

I think
I am going mad.
Actually, I think I am realizing
     that I have always been mad
     but haven’t known it.
Now I am having flashes of sanity
And they are driving me crazy.

Since recovering from the idea that there is any “outside” truth that can or should be imposed, coming to believe that “truth” is an inside job, I have committed my life energy and any skills I have developed to the project of “Know Thyself” – both for myself and in all of the work that I do with others. I passionately want to help any individual of any age and any background to realize and deeply respect the truth of themselves; and to find that for myself. I feel underneath instead of on top of the task today. But, forward ho.