The ancient writing at Delphi, which is the title of this post, was updated in my Systema book to:
Know (for) Yourself
Meaning know yourself but also find out the truth of any given thing or situation based on your own efforts, not simply swallowing whole whatever narrative you are given.
Earlier today I received the following question from a reader:
You have mentioned self-knowledge several times now.
How does a man know himself?
which, in all honesty, made me hesitate. It really is such a complete disconnect for me to even begin to TRY to put myself in the shoes of someone that would genuinely ask this that for a time I just had the equivalent of a brain-freeze. As you might if you saw a leprechaun riding a unicorn, flying through the air due to its rainbow farts.
Except without the rational explanation that if I saw that I would assume I had been drugged by my many enemies.
Here I didn’t even have that luxury. This was horrifyingly real!
My first natural instinct (based on my long-standing motto of: Leave every retard behind) was to dismiss such a question as so pathetic as to not warrant a reply.
Surely such a creature is so irrelevant as to not really deserve the disruption it might take to try to instruct it? It’s like the wounded bird out of the nest. What are the chances of its survival?
However, as it happens, I recognised the commenter, who has had a rather longish history of interacting with me privately; and being aware of his circumstances, I also knew this gentleman is definitely trying hard to be his best self.
Never one to shy away from acknowledging that my way/path/methods are not for the faint of heart, as well as being aware that other ways (best suited to people other than myself) exist that may (or may not) produce positive results for the average person —which I mostly consider an NPC unworthy of wasting time on— I have decided to attempt to answer the question as kindly, honestly and charitably as I am able.
Which is probably still not going to be very kind, or charitable, but at least it will be very honest.
Here goes then, my Millennial milque-toast friends.
How does a man know himself?
There are two easy answers to this.
Ask yourself honest questions about yourself and provide yourself honest answers, warts and all, on how you likely would react in different scenarios, and compare them to how you want to act instead. Changing from the would to the wanted way, is the process of improving yourself.
Place yourself in situations that test you emotionally, spiritually, physically, and overcome the challenges. This is best done in controlled environments, such as a martial arts class, and life will generally also throw you curve balls of different intensity throughout your life. Deal with it. In this respect, taking up a martial arts class is absolutely helpful, and if you want to have some advantage in doing so, you can certainly get, read and absorb my book on Systema, regardless of what martial art you may have available for you to join.
As I said, the answers are easy. The putting them into practice less so. Especially if you have an ingrained tendency to deceive yourself about yourself. And this is where the disconnect for me happens, because I was simply born with a general inability to do this. I am honestly not sure if I am a mutant because of this, or if everyone else is.
The reality however is that —while as every human being on Earth I made and make mistakes, misjudge, assume, or believe things in error, including occasionally about my ability— generally speaking, my errors tend to be on the side of caution on one hand (thinking I probably cannot really do X and finding out later that in fact I can, usually after I have taken it on like a man possessed and made whatever mistakes, sacrifices and errors along the way), or with regard to being too charitable to people who really don’t deserve it on the other hand. In the second instance this trend has been gradually shrunk with age and experience, but sometimes I still do it, kind of on purpose, knowing it’s an error, but just as an occasional test, and taking the necessary precautions. A sort of wearing gloves to see if the scorpion will still try to sting me kind of thing.
Now, the immediate follow-up question from your average NPC/Millennial is:
(insert whiny voice): “But sir… how do we do that? It’s so hard!”
Because punches to the head hurt (newsflash: yes, they do. For everyone. Suck it up buttercup!) and being honest with themselves apparently goes counter to some false prime directive they have wired into their DNA, possibly by Satan himself, or maybe by boomer-era poison doctrine, (but I repeat myself), that tells them they are the SPECIALEST of rainbow farting, magical unicorns, and the Universe owes them an ass-in-butter constant easy existence.
And honestly all I have to say to those unwilling to even take the first step after the entire solution and the entire map has been shown to them (points 1 and 2 above) is pretty much nothing.
My reaction is to merely to walk away and leave them to wallow and drown in their own despair, stupidity, weakness, or whatever label you want to put on their apparent inability to simply get off their arse and begin the journey of ten thousand steps and simply get on with it and continue getting on with it until the day they drop dead.
What else you got to do on this Earth until then anyway?
And to the ten quintillion answers that begin with “But…” to that question, all I have is disgust and scorn.
You are not special.
Your “special” and “unique” challenges that apply magically only to you have been experienced by billions of other humans throughout history.
And even if you are the rare and extremely unfortunate only hermaphrodite quadriplegic with multiple sclerosis and AIDS because you are raped daily by your infected male nurse? While I certainly can sympathise and wish or even pray your situation improves or were easier, the reality is that those are the cards you got dealt. And those are the only cards you have to play, so make the best of it regardless.
It’s the same for everyone, and whining and crying and finding excuses as to why your “very special and unique” circumstances make it “oh so much harder for you specifically”, really does not change the simple fact that if you want to cross the desert, you need to get off your arse, and start walking.
No one can cross it for you.
No one will carry you (because it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE, even if they were deluded enough to want to do it) across it.
The ONLY way to get on the other side of it is to get up and start walking.
That’s it.
No mystery, no secret technique, no special circumstances, and no, no matter how much you “prepare”, none of it matters at all. The only thing that matters is the doing.
Right now, and every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day, and week, and month, and year that comes after it; until the day you draw your last breath.
There is not even a final destination where you can rest and go “Ahhhh! I have learnt it all now!”
You may get a reprieve, you get certainly some achievements and satisfactions along the way, but if you are a man, you never cease being one, and that entails continuing to learn, evolve, better yourself, increase your abilities, physical as long as you can, mental as long as you can, and spiritual as long as you can. Regardless of any comparative “measurements” you might be inclined to take; because they are in any case pointless.
There is only one of you on this Earth, and none like you came before nor will come after. So what point is there for comparison, other than perhaps only in a very mild and generic sense to get a sense of where in the endless herd of humanity you might fall, more or less?
The only thing that matters is your continued efforts throughout your existence.
There is no final destination other than the grave, and that is not even the end anyway.
There is only the doing or the not doing.
So get off your arse and start walking. Or don’t. It’s only, always, and forever, up to only you. And no one else.
And now that I have dispensed this tidbit of absolutely, blindingly, obvious “wisdom”, I will continue my own walk across the endless desert. What you do now is up to you, and only you.
Good luck.
Thank you, Giuseppe.
I know when I'm lying to myself, deluding myself. I assumed, wrongly, every person acquired this simple insight by their teens. As the years have passed, it is still quite surprising to encounter an endless stream of walking dead that do not possess a basic understanding - or desire - to be truthful with themselves, let alone honest in their interactions with other people.
Doubling-down is the tactic of the modern day; personal responsibility to claw out of the mire is furthest from any one person's consideration, apparently.