Imagine that you are going to travel. You know where you're going, can we say Rome? Fine. So you're going to Rome. You sit down at your computer and order a ticket. Then comes the question: - where do you travel from? You are supposed to have a plane ticket, let's put it this way, to Rome, but you must know where you are traveling from - and you do not know that! Fantastic! The whole trip is canceled, because you do not know where you are leaving from.
This is probably extremely rare for most people, in everything that has to do with travel. But, when it comes to self-introspection, which is also a journey, for most people this is the reality. Few people know themselves as a starting point for the journey. How is this possible?
Let me take a step back in time.
In ancient Greece, priests asked the oracles about the future. What is an oracle? Wikipedia says: An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. One of the famous oracles of antiquity was the Temple of Delphi. The temple bore the inscription "Know thyself". Throughout the ages, philosophers and others have wondered what the inscription might mean. One explanation is about society's need for order - know yourself was about the individual human being should know his place in society and serve society from there. Another explanation is more spiritual and is about the one who wants to develop himself to know himself.
It is this last explanation I take as my starting point.
Let me still stay a little in the old days. When Buddhism migrated from India to China, it passed Tibet. The Tibetan teacher and sage, Milarepa (1052-1135 AC), teaches us that man consists of two forms of "I" - the Acquired I and the Inherent I. The Acquired I is created by senses and social restrictions, the Inherent I am our Higher consciousness waiting for awakening.
This makes sense to me.
My Higher consciousness are other words for my Inherent I. My Higher consciousness is so to say a more developed I. My limited consciousness is adapted to a world ruled by senses and emotions. To leave this world of limitations, I have to know it. Then I can head for my extended world; my Higher consciousness. This world, is a world of intuitive and causal awareness. The future state of consciousness for Man.
Then I know the point of departure and the gate of arrival.
We do not learn either from our parents or in the schools we attend, that we are an Acquired I and can liberate an Inherent I. Not so strange, since at least Western thinking is materialistic. In Western thinking about Man and Matter, there is no inherent spirit.
I am therefore not so surprised that very few people do not know where to travel from and where to travel to.
He who knows himself has put words to his Acquired I and can at least say: - I am here. Then follows the big question: - where are you going? In my introduction it was certainly Rome, but it was only a sketch of course. When it comes to the question of your individual evolution, which is a spiritual journey and therefore a journey in symbols and high energies, the question is somewhat different. A spiritual journey of evolution is not about a geographical destination, but about a destination of consciousness, your Higher consciousness.
You should therefore also know your Higher consciousness.
The moment you know "where you are" and "where you are going", you can do an exercise we call "bridging the gap" - you are then actually building the bridge between where you are and where you are going. This is entirely possible, otherwise I would not have disturbed you.
From the moment you know yourself, you can liberate yourself - so get started!
Jon