Short story: Know yourself, and so know God too
@innertalks (22088)
Australia
November 13, 2024 10:51pm CST
Rabbi Abram Abrahams, was discussing, with his students, the best ways to understand God, through first understanding ourselves.
Here was his take on this subject on that day.
"We can never know all about another soul, nor can we ever know all about God."
"We can only ever know all about ourselves."
"The emptiness felt by us, is because we try to know God, and others, before we know ourselves."
"Know thyself first, and all other knowledge will come out from you then, too, and so you will know all, when you know all of yourself."
"After we know ourselves, only then, can we take the step that goes beyond ourselves, and attaches ourselves, or allows ourselves, to become one with the infiniteness of God."
"So, first, we know the finiteness of ourselves, and then this leads us into the infiniteness of God."
"Knowing yourself leads you to knowing God."
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
'Man know thyself; then thou shalt know the Universe and God.'
Pythagoras, the ancient Greek philosopher, said this.
4 people like this
3 responses
@innertalks (22088)
• Australia
14 Nov
Yes, if we try to understand other things before we know ourselves, we can never properly, or fully, understand them then.
3 people like this
@Shiva49 (26776)
• Singapore
14 Nov
We get led by our five senses and all that glitter.
We have no time then to reflect on who we are.
We need constant reflection rather than judging others on their actions and appearance.
We pat ourselves that we are better and that approach leads us nowhere except to an empty life.
It is said that deep pondering on "who am I" will lead us to self-realization.
2 people like this
@innertalks (22088)
• Australia
14 Nov
The Christian Bible told us that the kingdom of God is within us.
(Luke chapter 17, verse 21: King James Bible
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.)
When we go deep within, we find our true self, as our soul self, which is permanently connected to God, and so we find God, and his kingdom then, too.
Yes, more than one Eastern spiritual master has advised us to think about that question, (Who am I) and when we drop deep enough into our self, we will find enlightenment then too.
@innertalks (22088)
• Australia
16 Nov
@Shiva49 Yes, our five senses are limited, and we should realise this, as even animals have greater, and better senses, so there must be a lot that our five senses do not pick up, but our sixth sense does, if we develop it more to do so, and we even might have more senses than that too.
Perhaps, our soul has a whole gamut of senses that we have little inkling of, as well.
@Shiva49 (26776)
• Singapore
15 Nov
@innertalks I have heard of a few who have had experiences beyond our normal realm and understanding after they have gone through intense self-introspection.
When they talk about such, they are brushed away that they are hallucinating or even worse.
One said he had hardly scratched the surface as they are beyond the ken of the rest of normal mortals who walk about with a take that mirrors the MAGA hat " Trump was Right About Everything".
According to me our obsession with our five senses as the be-all and end-all limits our outlook and true potential
2 people like this
@Dreamerby (5904)
• Calcutta, India
25 Nov
Wow a beautiful piece of thought indeed!
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