One Should Strive to Know Oneself-Daily Meditation 1.29.24

January 29, 202412 months ago BeckyWillis 416 Views 0 Comments

Post Credit Written By LivingLifeFully

Today’s quotation:

All ages have said and repeated that one should strive to know oneself. This is a strange demand that no one up to now has measured up to and, strictly considered, no one should. With all their study and effort, people are directed to what is outside, to the world about them, and they are kept busy coming to know this and to master it to the extent that their purposes require. . . . How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you’ll know right away what you amount to. And what is your duty? Whatever the day calls for.-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Today’s Meditation on One Should Strive to Know:

“Whatever the day calls for”–I love that line. Sometimes, I get so caught up in what I think I should be doing that I lose sight of what needs to be done right here. Yes, the paper must be written, but my stepdaughter needs a ride to something right now. Yes, I would love to work on another novel, but the bathroom wall must be fixed. These aren’t obstacles to living–they’re life and what today is calling for.

Goethe makes a claim that seems to be contrary to contemporary belief–that we can’t know ourselves. I’m not sure that I agree with him on that, but I do agree that our highest calling is to the world around us and the people with whom we share this world. We learn about life through our interactions with others, even if that interaction is reading words written by others. While life in a monastery or convent, shut off from the rest of the world, may be right for some people, we never get to know our potential and limitations if we don’t deal with other human beings if we don’t do our “duty,” which is the task before us.

Sometimes, that task is to rest to gather our energy for the next task. Sometimes, that task is to help someone else. Other times that task is to do something for ourselves. A great task is to sit and enjoy a movie–entertainment helps us to clear our minds of many of the stress-causing elements of our lives.

My duty today is to be me and to do the things that I know are necessary. I don’t have any other duties, and I shouldn’t take on any others that don’t contribute to making me the person I am. I can’t take on anyone else’s responsibilities, and I can’t try to be everything to everyone. By recognizing my duties, I free myself from all that isn’t my duty.