Know yourself

Dear friend

The terse directive to "know yourself" is nowadays not always offered as sound advice, but as a rejoinder or even a put-down. (As in, "You think I'm the one overreacting? Well you need to 'know yourself' my friend".) It turns out the maxim, or aphorism, to "know thyself" (gnothi seauton) is of ancient origin. Back then it was seen as a lifelong aspiration, a personal pursuit for ultimate understanding.

So then, how well do you know yourself/thyself? What is your essence, your substantive self; meaning those core components that make you you? Who and what are you, fundamentally?

A great starting point from which to answer these existential questions is found in Doctrine and Covenants 93:33-35.

33 For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;
34 And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.
35 The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple.

The reductionist would approve of the idea that the elements are the core stuff that come together to form our physical body, our tabernacle, us. This includes the lowly dust of the earth, the minerals, water, proteins, fats, and the rest, right down to cells, and then to the literal elements of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and more. At one level that is what we are, an organism, a well organised collection of mainly organic material. But surely we are more than the sum total of a bunch of chemicals, topped up by essential food groups. "You are what you eat" only goes as far as the body, mostly. So is that how we should see ourselves, as just a chemical concoction?

No, our true essence is that of spirit. In trying to comprehend spirit formulation, I imagine the substance of spirit as being a highly refined material of far greater quality and purity than earthly element; completely transcendent of coarse physical terrestrial matter. Yet these two, spirit and element, are necessarily both eternal. Indeed, for the man or woman to have full joy, we learn there must be an "inseparable connection" between body and spirit. This must mean both a resurrection to immortality and an exaltation to the highest glory, since that is the only opportunity for complete perfect endless happiness.

The optimal state of our existing is then, a fully developed spirit in a fully perfected body. At this point while residing on earth, we are practicing this conjoined condition in preparation for forever. A key task is to keep the body/temple clean. Our body belongs to God so we need to be tidy tenants and obedient occupants. Plus, if we inherit our bodies at some time in the future, we want them to be in as good a condition as possible. I believe such corporeal purity is a function of the spirit using the body in increasingly and exclusively more excellent ways. We don't want our temple destroyed by dishevelled disobedience.

I think knowing yourself involves knowing "Who's" you are before you can know who you are. To know thyself also includes seeing beyond our current reality of mortal limitations and forward to what we are destined to be.

Samuel.