“The only ones among you who will be really happy,
are the ones who will have sought and found how to serve.
These
immortal words were recorded more than a century ago by Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the incomparable Alsatian Polymath, as he explained why he chose to spend his life
in the manner he had done. He was a brilliant man who had gained honor and respect
in all of Europe, as an accomplished
theologian, organist, author, philosopher, physician, and Nobel Laureate. In
1913, at the age of 30 yrs, he chose to travel to the heart of the African
continent where he established a hospital in Lambarene, Gabon.
There he planned to provide healing services to those who needed it, as he brought
the holy words of the Gospel to the people. To this end, he gave up all his
positions and glory, to devote the rest of his life to spreading the Gospel by
personal example, and by serving those who needed his help most. He had indeed found his true self in the
serving of others who were in genuine need.
For as long as man has inhabited this earth, he has sought
to determine the nature and the source of his true self without ever arriving at any definitive answers. This
should not be a surprise, since it is physically impossible to demonstrate, or
to measure one’s true self. Like so many other phenomena in nature, including
light, heat, and sound, we can only know it by its effects on us. Philosophers often
describe the true self as the soul of the individual; the fundamental nucleus of
the person, freed of all the external debris that makes up living. They place
it as the true center of life, the root of all actions, and the source of our
identity. It emanates from the person’s inborn personality, and is the main
vehicle that deals with such vital traits as the ability to accept or reject,
to like or dislike, to know right from wrong, and to show feelings of joy and
sadness. And to the world, it projects who we are, what we value, and what we can
offer.
Far too many of us, spend all our lives never ever finding
our true, authentic selves. And we do so because of our unwillingness to risk
the trauma and the pain that can result from finding a different or unexpected outcome.
Instead, we prefer to choose the easy way, to listen to our pseudo-self, with
its overindulgence and its self-centered goals designed to bolster the ego. And
we do this while ignoring truth and reality, and rejecting any attempt to
accept personal blame or responsibility. This indeed is humanity’s major
failing, the most prominent cause of the wanton misunderstanding and distrust
that permeate the society, and the reason for so much hate, conflict and
disharmony among people, societies and nations. Indeed, without a true and
clear knowledge of ourselves, we are more likely to be wrong with everyone
else. This was what he intended to impart to his audience when William Shakespeare, the great English
poet and playwright, in his greatest classic tragedy, Hamlet, recorded in these dramatic words:
“This above all: To thine own self,
be true.
And it must follow as the night, the
day.
Thou canst be false to any man.”
The effort needed to find oneself demands an honest,
unselfish undertaking to understand the root of everything we do in our life. To
be truthful, it must reflect our self-identity, self-value and our
self-fulfillment and must include, above all else, a clear and unequivocal
understanding of our life’s meaning. Without this purpose deeply instilled in
our psyche, we will be incapable of successfully undertaking the process of
exposing and shedding those layers that do not serve us in our lives, and do
not reflect who we really are. Our true self is a permanent and indestructible focus
which, if allowed unhindered freedom, will bring out the best of our humanity. It
is the inner voice that understands our physical and psychological needs, that
separates past from present experiences, and can confidently express who you
are. To be ruled by the self, is the only way to be at peace with the world
around, with all you think or do, and with all that happens for or against you.
In the end, the ‘self’ will never be
measured by how successful you are, but only how contented you are!
One of the greatest obstacles to finding and living your true self is without doubt, in the
trying to live in, and conform to the needs of society. By its very nature, any
society will need to establish and maintain uniformity and create rules to
which everyone is required to conform. The individual members are discouraged
from being who they really are, and encouraged to ‘fit in’. Since the image of one’s
‘self’ is like the clothes one chooses to wear, society insists on using their
clothes to fit as you can, to ensure there is conformity. They are not
concerned about the effect on the individual, but only on its own survival. Without doubt, Society is happier when you remain
in the ‘current self’ than when you insist on your ‘true self.’
The
result of this is that the few who insist on questioning or choosing the true
self, are subjected to accusations of selfishness or questions of stability, and
generally ignored by the rest of society. In this respect, this was perhaps the
reason why Bruce Lee, the highly acclaimed American-Chinese martial arts champion, film actor, and a respected
philosopher in his own right, was advocating when he advised:
“In order to realize our true self, we must be
willing to live without being dependent upon the opinion of others.”
-No greater advice can ever be given to anyone who
chooses to follow the paths of the many contented people who chose to do so,
and turned their backs away from conforming to, and pleasing others.
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