Article in Stretton Focus, December 2013
In training for the ministry many years ago I had to read books on theology and philosophy, which I did whenever I could tear myself away from the table-tennis room! The purpose of the study was to pass my exams, and most of the stuff I learned I’ve now forgotten: but I’ve gone on learning in the ‘school of life’, which is where the most important lessons are learnt.
One bit of philosophy that I’ve carried with me is enshrined in the title of my piece – Know Thyself. The whole of Greek philosophy was founded on the wisdom of that maxim. I think it was Plato who said “the unexamined life is not worth living” We could express the same concept today by asking the question “Who am I?” It’s probably the most important question we can ask ourselves, and there would be a lot of different answers (maybe even one for each day!)
I have come to the conclusion that we are the ‘sum total of our experiences’. Every thought and feeling; every decision we have made; everything we’ve said and done; everything that has happenedd to us; all go into making us the person that we are.
Other people will have opinions of us, but we shouldn’t bother too much about that (we can’t please everybody!) What really does matter is the opinion we have of ourselves. In Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ the wise father Polonius gave his son this advice: “to thine own self be true …” As self-conscious beings we know whether we are living up to our highest ideals or falling short of them.
We can personify our ideals, and use that ‘person’ as a kind of mirror to see ourselves in the light of what is highest and best. And from that experience we can feel the challenge and the inspiration to reach for the Good, the Beautiful and the True.
Thankfully we are not a ‘finished product’: we are always in the process of ‘becoming’, so ‘nil desperandum’! What the finished product will finally be like is a deep mystery – but any serviceable religion should be helping you to become the best person that you are capable of being.
Donald Horsfield
