The elections are done. It is now time to stop asking what your leaders can do for you, and start asking what you can do for yourself. For that is how development and progress actually happen: by one’s own efforts.
But there is a very important step we must take before we rush to action. We must make sure we know ourselves very intimately.
I recently wrote an article lamenting what we have done to our religious festivals. In response, a gentleman named Roy Gachuhi posted a long and very thoughtful piece on my website. His key point is worth elaborating here (you can read the full response on www.sunwords.com, “Let’s Put Nobility Back into Festivals”, 18 November 2008).
Mr Gachuhi wrote: “I am fully convinced that the root cause of all our problems is the incompleteness of our education - religious and secular. In my experience, complete education has three aspects to it: the subject of knowledge (i.e. the knower), the object of knowledge and the process of gaining the knowledge.
Our modern education deals only with the objective aspect of knowledge. Therefore, we become very good at whatever objective field of study we pursue. Illiteracy in the knowledge of the self makes a professor and a peasant who has never opened a book equally susceptible to the same problems in life: greed, vanity, anger, jealousy and false attachment to material things. Sometimes the professor has these vices more in abundance than the peasant.”
I asked in my original piece why our religious leaders, in all religious traditions, are failing to take us towards higher thought and better values. Mr Gachuhi had a ready answer: “We sometimes wonder why our religious leaders are not guiding us to the light and we are thus consumed in the darkness of alcoholism, debauchery and aggression. The truth is that we are in the same boat. They don’t know better. They can quote the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavad-Gita, from start to finish but that does not make them any better than those of us who may only have heard of those holy books. They can only be qualified to instruct us if they are themselves structured in the knowledge. And the instruction must be practical, not academic. This has nothing to do with intellectual understanding; it is entirely experiential.
At the experiential level, all human differences dissolve. There is no Christian, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, Kikuyu, Digo, rich, poor, Mzungu, Mhindi, tall, short - or any of the other myriad superficialities. There is only Truth. This is what modern education - religious or secular - has failed to implant in our consciousness. Objectively, we know that God does not belong to any of our tribe, religion, race or gender. How come we are unable to live according to that knowledge? This is simply because modern education is incomplete. It does not deal with the subjective field of life. The knower is a total stranger to himself. He knows everything else except himself.”
Powerful stuff. Roy Gachuhi is echoing the famous words of one of the most famous thinkers of all time: Socrates. The father of western philosophy said: before you know anything else, you must “know thyself”. To Socrates, the unexamined life was not worth living. To go through life without ever asking who you are, what you stand for and what your prime motivations are, is to live the life of a beast of the forest. We are given the capacity to reason for a reason: we must use it!
Instead, most of us plod through our lives living the values of others, being led like sheep to places good and bad, and waiting for someone to make it all better. Even seemingly accomplished humans often know very little about themselves.
Socrates pointed out that we must be wary of conventional knowledge, of taking things as given. We often think things must be a certain way because we have never stopped to think how else they could be.
Self awareness is the first step on the path to wisdom. We ourselves are the true instruments for understanding and shaping our lives. We consult priests and astrologers, shrinks and experts, but we never consult ourselves. So much easier just to sit before the TV set, or just read book after book, or sit at the feet of elders.
As you read this, a newly elected government will be preparing for office. That is all very well, but no amount of roads, clinics, formal education or constitutional changes are going to make you a bigger, better, wiser person. All those things are very necessary, but in themselves will give you nothing.
You would do far better to quietly, gently ask yourself some very basic questions. What is my purpose in this life? What do I need to have done before I die? What do I really, truly believe in? Why do I behave the way I do? What are my weaknesses, and how have they limited my life so far?
The answers may bring you great wealth in 2008. A year of wisdom to all.
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4 Responses:
January 7th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hallo,
We as Africans really need to know who we are. Most of us live in this world without knowing where we are from and where we are going. In ancient Egypt, from the little history I have read, every doorpost had the words ‘MAN KNOW THYSELF’. I believe this is one of the reasons why the Egyptians were able to create a great civilization in the nile delta. The people knew their purpose in life and they lived towards achieving the goals they set for themselves. Without knowing who you really are, your capabilities and potential will never be fully utilised. Knowledge of our true history is one surest way of knowing oneself. The history of the African has mostly been told by the Europeans who conqured them. Until we have our true story about who we were before the conquest, we will not be able to develop as a nation as the foundation of our nationhood is laid on a quicksand.
From a personal view, I believe that the Egyptians who built the pyramids were black people. If our ancestors could accomplish such great feats during their time, why not us?
December 31st, 2007 at 8:59 pm
An admirable response by Joseph. If we had spent any time examining ourselves as Kenyans, perhaps we would not be where we are right now. You will forgive me for not writing an elaborate reply right now. I will do so soon. The country is in flames, and the fire must go out before we can talk about anything else.
December 31st, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Thanks Sunny for another insightful and motivational article on a very important aspect of life, self appreciation. It couldn’t be on another better time as we set our New Year resolutions.
Socrates, as evidenced by the writings of his pupil Plato, and also Plato’s pupil Aristotle, focused on ethics, and sacrificed his time in urging Athenians to practise self examination. (For Kimani, Plato’s famous book “The Republic” is available in some of Nairobi’s leading bookshops)
More than 2,300 years since Socrates made these teachings, the question we have to ponder is, are they still relevant? Should we engage in self examination as individuals, and if so, does it fundamentally change our lives to become better individuals? The five questions Sunny identifies are much more than a character analysis. Human beings interact in what I will call three levels, personal (individual), interpersonal (social) and society and government (work, community, government et al). The foundation of this is the individual, as he or she exists in all the three.
Extrapolating Sunny’s questions to the three levels implies that we are all seeking answers to the problems bedevilling us as individuals, society and also as a country. Answering the question what do I need to do before I die, is what Stephen Covey calls beginning with the end in mind, that is, what sort of an individual will your family and loved ones say about you during your burial? How about the society? What about the government? If indeed you desire being described as a loving husband/wife, or a peace loving citizen you work towards that. As an individual you live a more fulfilling life and building fruitful relationships with others.
More importantly, psychologists have identified that employees who are self accepting are generally secure and free of significant internal conflicts, and convey a sense of confidence. That is very important for career progression as we set our goals in 2008! We can go on and seek how emotionally intelligent we are, do we know our feelings as they occur and how we react to them? It’s possible to know our own weaknesses, more often than not friends will tell you what they think you need to hear, and thus live in self deception. Furthermore, you will be more appreciating of other people if you first accept yourself! Also, you will be above tribalism, nepotism and racism. How awesome will it be if all Kenyans practised these! There is prosperity in self appreciation.
Asking yourself what you really believe in and what your purpose in life is, is searching deep within your heart and asking what is it that you do better and with a passion. It is much more than your goals in life. Aligning our beliefs and passions produces the best in us, and also for the world. Bill Gates had to drop out of Harvard to pursue his passion of software production. Outside the UN today, no other body has made donations to charity surpassing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which Bill Gates founded a few years ago.
From the above, my submission is that self acceptance is a prerequisite to personal development and leadership. These have a multiplier effect on the well being and development of our country. These teachings, as they were 2,300 years ago, are so real that we can only ignore them at our own peril today!
However, I am puzzled by what happens with our leaders when they join politics, and especially our parliament. Kenya has some of the finest thinkers in Africa (I reckon who understand these issues more than most of us, both in theory and practise), but when they go to parliament it becomes difficult to reconcile their utterances, performance and our expectations, or their previous experience as corporate leaders. Any idea out there? And is there anything we can do about it?
Wishing you all a prosperous and peaceful 2008!
December 30th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
I need to read more about Socrates and his philosophies and I will appreciate if you could make some recommendations. It was incorrect and unfair for him to have said that the unexplained life is worthless and the basic questions which you suggest as the key to wealth and wisdom in the New Year are also misleading. I have considered the 5 questions which you suggested as the basis or starting point for knowing oneself intimately and felt I was merely analyzing my character, personality, beliefs, goals in life and weaknesses. This analysis could probably make me a little better in the New Year but not necessarily wealthier or wiser. As for the weaknesses I felt I might not be able to identify them but friends, relatives and associates might point them out more accurately. So your suggested system of self examination is useless and is unlikely to make one wiser but the self inquiry process could perhaps make one richer especially after re-examining personal goals and weaknesses. An individual’s character and personality is determined in the formative years and is difficult to change after reaching the pinnacle of formal/tertiary education. This is the reason why Roy’s Professor has all those vices you listed and the reason why he/she behaves like a peasant and it is also the reason why some of the religious leaders are not able to provide direction despite some formal religious education. What I am saying in other words is that such an individual is unlikely to change much at this stage even after trying to know them selves intimately the way you have suggested. You are very right in saying that it is time to do more for ourselves but also I add do something for our country. Guiding tenets in doing this should be: fairness, sense of duty, diligence, respect for God, respect for the rule of law and respect and love for fellow human beings. If one becomes rich while doing something for themselves and country, well and good but the primary goal should not necessarily be wealth but happiness and personal satisfaction. If making loads of money was the purpose for life, then most civil servants, teachers, petrol station attendants, shop stewards etc who are honest and diligent would be useless and not worth living.