What is the most effective practical way for man to improve himself in this life and to resist the attraction of evil? “An Ancient wise man told you: Know thyself.” (The Book of Spirits, issue 919)

When talking about self-knowledge, we usually think of personal, social or professional aggrandizement, as a way to connect it to our essence and improve our interpersonal relationships.

But would it also be possible to consider the religious or spiritual portion?

The answer is yes. Knowing yourself allows us to know what we want in life, whether in big projects or in everyday life. It also allows us to better manage our emotions, even in the most difficult situations. In addition, self-knowledge is closely related to emotional intelligence, as knowing how to interpret our emotions is related to self-reflection and improved mental health.

On the other hand, knowing yourself is also very important for the development of our spirit. When we deeply examine ourselves, we are helping ourselves to set realistic goals and know how to identify where we are in our lives.

As we find in question 919 of The Book of Spirits, self-knowledge is fundamental and effective for improving ourselves in this life and resisting the attraction of evil. This possibility of self-reflection is important to understand how much we can change, always remembering that our change, our reform, does not end in just one incarnation. Immortal spirits that we are, we are in a continuous process of evolution, where we can improve ourselves in a constant and unlimited way.

But why take self-knowledge to the spiritual side?

Aware that we are spiritual beings and, consequently, immortal, we can better understand the transience of life, its problems and anxieties, as well as channel adversity to something less painful or dark.

In the same question mentioned above, the Spirit of Saint Augustine says: “Do what I did when I lived on Earth: at the end of the day, I would question my conscience, review what I had done and ask myself if I hadn’t missed something, if no one had cause to complain of me. That's how I got to know myself and see what in me needed reform”. Who among us can rethink what happened in a day and be calm? Admitting that you didn't hurt, that you were not unfair or didn't use harsh words when addressing a brother that is also walking along with you?

Of course, we always try to do our best in our daily lives, but the day does not always end with complete success in terms of good fortunes. We always need to reexamine our attitudes toward ourselves and others. We need to create some healthy habits as our spiritual benefactors point us to our evolution:

1. Watch our thoughts, emotions, words and gestures even while alone, to make sure we have the necessary moral clarity;

2. Learn to remove impure ideas or thoughts, replacing them with more edifying ones;

3. Awaken our inner light by cultivating in our mental home the habit of reading and other leisure activities that provide greater reflection in the field of good and cultivate the highest conversation to connect with noble spiritual friends.

Connections with the High seem more distant when we are not working on our spiritual evolution. As we seek to enhance our self-knowledge, we are closer to the truths we learn in the Gospel illustrated by the different passages of Our Elder Brother in our earthly world. Emmanuel, in the book O Consolador (The Comforter), wrote that “the truth is the spiritual essence of life”. Such learning necessarily implies study and work, responsibility with commitments and duties; combating evil tendencies and persevering in the good. And, when least expected, changes occur in the quality of thoughts emitted by the individual, reflected in words and behaviors.

Kardec, in Posthumous Works, also warned us that the Spiritist Doctrine “is not limited to preparing man for the future, it also forms him for the present, for society. This indicates that - by improving morally - men will prepare on Earth the reign of peace and fraternity”. And how to carry out this action without the course of the will to know oneself?

The book The Gospel According to Spiritism, in its chapter XXV, invites us to reflect on the eternal improvement to which we can submit ourselves, exemplifying the laws of work and progress, as a safe path that we must follow in the search for evolution: living of the teachings of Jesus, contained in his Gospel of love and light. Just as any earthly work requires the sincere dedication that you dedicate to it, self-knowledge requires mental constancy of effort in the good and discipline so that we can improve ourselves.

Only with self-knowledge can we understand and improve our personal, social, professional and also spiritual aspects. With this continuous task, we can not only know our limitations, deal with our emotions and feelings, as it opens up the possibility of having a new look at the world, of freeing ourselves from our inner prisons, of transforming the old man into a new man. In other words, to put into practice the intimate reform as a propeller of a new soul, open to the new, to the good and to the evolution that we so long for.

It is also important to remember not to be short-sighted, because believing in the plurality of life, we are open to past and future existences as a way of understanding the transience to which everything and everyone is subject. By extending the understanding that we are not limited to a single existence, we broaden our view on the smallness of vices such as arrogance, pride, vanity, among other character traits that we can cultivate in successive incarnations. Knowing that we are the protagonists of our evolution, using the reincarnation premise that we are immortal, our goal becomes clearer. By getting rid of these bad habits, we can have more clarity of thoughts and attitudes and turn our connectivity to ourselves and to the Father, thus aiming to improve our integral health.

In order to know ourselves, it is necessary to dive into ourselves. As Saint Augustine quoted, a review of what we did during our day, of our thoughts, of our ideas or in his words: “Knowledge of oneself is, therefore, the key to individual progress”.

These experiences that life invites us to, an eternal learning process of this soul that accompanies us for countless existences of this journey. Lessons passed by our spiritual friends for a remembrance of previous experiences, applying to our spirit an attention to the Inner Reformation, this continuous improvement of our spiritual intimacy, modeling us in the evangelical experience.

Finally, by remembering the phrase attributed to Socrates “know thyself”, we are aimed at working not only on the existence in which we find ourselves, but on the refinement of the soul, the recognition of our inner divinity, of our millennial essence that we carry through different experiences. And, according to the orientation of Allan Kardec in The Gospel According to Spiritism: “The true spiritist is recognized for his moral transformation and for the efforts he employs to tame his evil inclinations”.

May we seek in the examples described in our Gospel the strength to accept our imperfections, the real will to recognize our mistakes and the courage and humility to remake ourselves at every moment.

Bibliography:

EMMANUEL (Spirit). The Comforter. Psychographed by Francisco Candido Xavier. Brasilia: FEB, 2006.

KARDEC, Allan. Posthumous Works. trans. by Salvador Gentile. Macaws: IDE, 1993.

KARDEC, Allan. The Gospel According to Spiritism. trans. by Salvador Gentile. Macaws: IDE, 2003.

KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits. trans. by Salvador Gentile. Macaws: IDE, 2005.