We are all teachers and students in, and of, life, and every experience that we have, every person who we encounter, every member of another species that we interact with, every event that we witness, and even every object that we use to function in the world and carry out our daily lives has the potential to teach us something new about ourselves and/or the world.
Everything in reality and potential reality, manifested from the timeless source of all knowledge (which is also the source of all of existence itself), holds information/data and history (existence and emergence/recycled emergence within the context of time) and, therefore, everything in reality provides us with the opportunity for learning in some form or another.
Starting on the basic level of our atoms and DNA, then moving to the level of our lived and imagined (often the two converge) histories in stories, songs, and collective lived experiences, then to the existence of areas of studies and the fact that all things can be understood, it is clear to see that there is knowledge all around and within us at all times to learn from just by the sheer nature of existence itself, but more obviously also because of our basic existence as conscious, sensory, thinking, and creative beings.
We know information because there are things to be known and understood in everything around us, and our complex (enough) brains give us a way to process our gathered information and knowledge in usable forms that allow us to function, interact with, and modify the world around us as we choose as well. This is one advantage of being a human-being.
Within the advanced built-in processing tool called our brains and bodies, we contain, store, organize, utilize, discard, and transform information on an ongoing basis. The information that we possess in the form of genes and encounter in the form of learning and experience impacts everything from our level of understanding and world-views and predispositions to our actions and opinions. These understandings and perspectives then shape the deeply interconnected world around us as we negotiate reality consistently and create and re-create “the way things are” (and where they are going) with others.
As homo-sapiens, we can learn, problem-solve issues, shift-perceptive, build new connections in our brains, and understand ourselves to the point where we can even neutrally observe our ability to know and understand ourselves on multiple levels beyond our physical form.
Yoga invites us to open up all knowledge by first becoming aware of the knowledge that is, and exists within, ourselves.
Today, I invite you to spend some time thinking about what it means to have knowledge of Self to begin with.
On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being not at all to 10 being fully aware and knowledgeable, how well do you know yourself…your True-Self within and beyond your body and brain?
What about the “self” within, and of, your body and brain?
What are some things that you know about your self (from each question above) and how do you know these things?
Be sure to write down your responses in your journal as always since they will be useful as we continue with this exploration in more depth moving forward from here.
