Gnaw
Your Own Bone
“Pursue,
keep up with, circle round and round your life...Know your own bone:
gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw at it still.”
Henry
David Thoreau
“Know
your own bone,” Thoreau said, meaning know yourself so well that
you are deeply aware of your experience in every moment. I know that
sounds simple, but truly, it is not. Most of us are completely
unaware of our own motives, or the effect of our behavior on others.
Some of us speak whatever words drop down from our cerebral
hemispheres without passing them first through our frontal lobes, to
assess their possible impact, or their true intent. We say incredibly
insensitive things, and then wonder why feelings are hurt, or why someone would think our intentions were anything but altruistic.
This
obliviousness is one of the true evils of the world. To go through
ones days tossing off pronouncements as though words were just sounds
with no meaning, is simply one way of being truly narcissistic. The
narcissistic personality is capable of anything, and none of it very
good. So knowing one's own bone, including one's light and darkness,
is a requirement of being a clear-headed adult, who weighs the
consequences of words and actions before undertaking them.
Part
of living a spiritual life is knowing oneself very well. In the
market place, what motivates you? In your home life, what are your
intentions? What pushes your buttons, and why? In what way do you use words to
control others? You could, no doubt, make up a list of questions to
gnaw your own bone. Consider it an exercise for gaining spiritual
insight.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
No comments:
Post a Comment