"Knowing oneself and authenticity" - Marco M.
Knowing oneself and authenticity
Never before have we talked about "knowing oneself", living the "present moment", being free without wearing masks, etc.
On the other hand, we live mostly in complete inauthenticity, surrounded by in-human beings incapable of any thoughts or actions that have a hint of freedom, perpetually prisoners of space/time and thus utterly alien to the experience of the infinite Present moment.
My personal story comes through an experiential and existential research on Eastern philosophies and practices. Obviously, turning to the East is not necessary in itself, as the drive to asceticism also exists in the much closer Greek culture (Aksesis) but, falling in love with the East, is part of my "history" and I have no regrets. On the contrary, it is a pleasure today to rediscover Greece and the mystique of northern European culture, also with the experiential baggage of the youthful East. As a young man, in fact, I was enchanted by Zen meditation, by its contaminations with the Beat Generation, by the practice of Yoga and then later, fascinated by the Taoist philosophy that still remains for me an incredible call that pushes us to consider everything from the point of view of nature and its imbalances perfectly in balance. I sometimes feel resentful and eager to mark the distance between me and the world of modern newage Yoga. But it's those rare moments when deep down I get lost in ignorant recrimination about how things should be but aren't. Then, I get it together, I observe with a minimum of distance to see that in the end this has always been the case in history: when anything (religious, philosophical, spiritual movement) becomes massive, it totally loses its authenticity.
It's no one's fault, it's a natural process of birth, growth, decline and death and still human beings have to cherish their time even if it's for the simple reason that it's what we have. At a time when Yoga, and the world of Eastern philosophy in a more general sense, was not fashionable, it was frequented by people who in their own way were, so to speak, looking for means that would give them the possibility of understanding themselves or even simply of being aware of other dimensions of the self. At the moment when massification has appropriated all this, by doing so, by the time it becomes fashionable, much of what is authentic has vanished. Those who live in inauthenticity or unawareness, no matter in what time and space, cannot understand that in order to know oneself one must be willing to go beyond oneself. That it is not the medium that is used, but how this medium is used and basically everything comes down to the intention, attitude and quality of the subject who uses the means.
In-humans believe that they can get to know each other through superficial "spiritual" chatter, through psychoanalysis, stretching their buttocks through some yogic position, sitting with their eyes closed, or, even worse, walking and talking slowly (those who greet each other wishing each other a good life are the worst offenders).
They mistake the projected shadows of their minds for reality just like the inhabitants of Plato's cave. To know yourself, it doesn't matter what medium you use, but you need to be ready to know yourself, go beyond yourself and do it systematically as a habitual practice.
To go beyond yourself, you have to go beyond your abilities, experiencing first-hand how often limits are illusory produced by induced fear. You must be prepared to experience pain and suffering. You have to be ready to get lost, hit rock bottom and then come back up and find yourself identical to before and yet totally new.
Basically, it means things like: running beyond the limits, swimming towards the horizon without the thought of having to return, going on a mountain walk going forward until you are sure you can go back, repeating the same kata or yoga sequence hundreds of times in a row, thousands of times the same mantra, or sacrificing all your energy to defeat a much stronger opponent.
It is essentially about embarking on a journey through the vehicles of pain and suffering.
Only beyond the boundaries of one's own mind, in that suspended mental space, when one is without any foothold, is it possible to observe oneself and finally know a piece of oneself.
m.m.