Kirjahaku

Self-knowledge is a skill, not a trait, talent, or divine insight. That's the good news. The bad news is that the self is a wilderness. Without tremendous effort we will suffer from what we don't know about ourselves. Most people struggle to live a life filled with purpose and meaning, and instead get caught up in day to day stuff that drains them and leaves them unfulfilled. Their relationships suffer, their career goes stagnant, and they're stuck. Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, who lived in the 6th century BCE, wrote, "He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened." Similarly, Carl Jung said, "Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." The sum total of philosophic inquiry is said to have been summarized by Socrates who said, "Know thyself." Plato similarly phrased it, "The unexamined life is not worth living." At Big Self School, we help those who want to develop deeper relationships, do work that matters, and fully live out who they're supposed to be. That quest begins with the work of self-knowledge.

Whether you think you know your desires, but want to reconnect to them, or you simply have no idea, this book can help you realize your way to a deeper and more authentic connection with yourself and what you truly want. Desire is there even if you aren't sure where it went or how in the world you will access it again. Desire may go dormant as you play all the ready-made roles that adulthood throws at you, but it's there even in dormancy, steady as a heartbeat, ready to be resuscitated. What values do you live out and what values are suppressed? What makes you feel good? You cannot let yourself be denied, and the truth is, if you've really found your desire, you won't let yourself be denied. You will have found a purpose that enlarges and enriches your life, and you will be willing to sacrifice for it. When you look desire in the eye big things begin to happen. You get closer to your reality - starting where you are. This book can help you launch in a whole new direction of self-discovery. Desire is there even if you aren't sure where it went or how in the world you will access it again. Desire may go dormant as you play all the ready-made roles that adulthood throws at you, but it's there even in dormancy, steady as a heartbeat, ready to be resuscitated. What values do you live out and what values are suppressed? What makes you feel good? When you look desire in the eye big things begin to happen. You get closer to your reality - starting where you are. This book can help you launch in a whole new direction of self-discovery.

If someone really wants to change, to grow as a person, what is the best medicine? What are the most direct routes? How do you discover who you are? How do you find the courage to share it with the world once you know? Reading is one. We read to understand. We read to learn, to find something we didn't even know we were looking for. We read to find community -- both with past and present authors, and with the others who read with us. We read to be enriched.Meditating is another. Here you have, at your disposal, 365 different quotes and the books they came from, along with a question (or two or three) for meditation. The world does not need another grabbag of quotes. We wanted a book more like the kind it was influenced by. We wanted it to contain the transformative potential it celebrated, discussed, and meditated upon. This book is designed to bring you clarity, not clutter. We live in the information age. Marcus Aurelius says, "What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness." On the other hand, Erasmus points out, "Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself." We're infiltrated by information fighting for our attention, fighting to persuade us, to manipulate us, to shape who we are, how we think, believe, and behave. This book is intended -- with a focus on self-exploration and personal identity -- to help you construct who you are, and how you want to feel, think, believe, and behave for yourself. This book is designed to bring you clarity, not clutter. We're infiltrated by information fighting for our attention, fighting to persuade us, to manipulate us, to shape who we are, how we think, believe, and behave. This book will help you construct who you are, and how you want to feel, think, believe, and behave for yourself. The readings come from psychology, philosophy, poetry, essays, biographies and autobiographies, memoirs, dictionaries, treatises, and literature. The quotes inspire, comfort, and challenge. They represent a wide diversity of experiences and ideas. They are intended for you to actively think, reflect, feel, and meditate upon. This book meets you where you're at. The power of reading with a purpose, combined with meditating's transformative potential, will bear fruit in your life. What that fruit is, how long it will take you to arrive, how dedicated you are to the process, all that is up to you. It all depends on the seeker, the curious one, why you're seeking, and what you're going to do about what you discover. This book is a guide, a traveling companion. This book is about you. How committed are you to yourself? Who do you think you are?