Know Thyself – With a Little Help From Your Friends
How can you see your face without a mirror? How would you ever know what others see when they look at you?
You can get by with a little help from your friends.
Whether we are willing to accept it or not, there are limitations to our ability to perceive ourselves and the environment in which we live. When we see a rainbow in the sky or projected through a prism, we see a beautiful spectrum of color as the light is refracted and reflected outward. Purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red create a magnificent arc across the sky and display what we understand to be the whole spectrum of colors – for it is the full extent of color that we are able to perceive. Yet, with technology, we now understand that the UV spectrum of light is far more immense than we could have possibly imagined.
Why can’t we see it with the naked eye?
The answer seems to be a function of the natural limitations of our ability to perceive light without the assistance of a highly developed technological lens. In the same way, we are limited in how we are able to perceive the full spectrum of our personality. For the most part, we believe we’re pretty much alright and it’s the rest of the world that’s got problems. Yet, we often find ourselves bumping up against the same obstacles and spinning our wheels when we thought we were going to go somewhere.
What does Narcissus have to do with it?
There’s a lot of talk these days about Narcissists and the emotional damage they cause in relationships, due to their lack of object constancy and absence of empathy. However, we can miss the lesson in the Myth of Narcissus completely if we don’t turn the lens of criticism back towards ourselves with a practice of critical self-reflection. Please understand that I am in no way offering an excuse for the very real and damaging abuses that happen in a relationship with Narcissistic personality types, as I have suffered those abuses myself, but I would like instead to offer a way forward that requires self-responsibility and empowers one to create the change they would like to experience in their lives.
Even with a practice of self-awareness, however, there will still be patterns and behaviors of which we may remain unaware. That’s because they exist and operate in the shadows of our blind spots, at a level below our conscious awareness, our subconscious. And so, at some point, we reach the limitation of what we are able to perceive in ourselves.
The story of Narcissus is about mirrors, relationships, projections, and perception. Our most intimate relationships are always the ones that trigger us into the emotional pain of ego injury the deepest because “relationship” is the mirror that reveals all of our flaws. Yet, this “mirror of relationship” can be more like the distorted reflection seen in a funhouse mirror, as it is naturally warped with the unconscious projections of our other half. So, once again we have reached the limit of what we are able to perceive in ourselves and in others.
How can we overcome the limitations of self-awareness?
Throughout the ages, this has been the “Holy Grail” quest for seekers of enlightenment and there have been many modalities developed for this purpose. The words “Know Thyself” are said to have been inscribed on the pediment at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi and this maxim represents a core element of the philosophy of Socrates.
“Know the true definition of yourself. That is essential. Then, when you know your own definition, flee from it.”
Jelaludden Rumi
Jesus asked: Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5). We are further urged by Rumi towards this endeavor when he says: “Know the true definition of yourself. That is essential. Then, when you know your own definition, flee from it.”
So we have spent endless hours in talk therapy, undergone clinical hypnosis, meditated, journaled, and prayed yet we have continued to struggle with the same limitations for ages. Just as we could not see beyond the spectrum of the rainbow until new technology was developed, we could not see into the shadows of our personality blind spots until now. With the new advent of The Personality Assessment Test, we now have the technology that allows us to see beyond the natural limitations of our perceptions of Self.
Developed by Patrick Dahdal, creator of NLPQ and world-renown author of Limitless: The Ultimate 5-Step System For Mastering The Law of Attraction, Success and Manifesting Your Goals…Every Time! (The NLPQ Series), The Personality Assessment Test offers a peek behind the curtain of our subconscious patterns and beliefs by connecting the dots of our responses to each specifically designed question. The results of the test can be astounding and the revelations of our unseen inner workings can be eye-opening, if not outright shocking. It is my great honor to have taken my place among the ranks of so many other great practitioners and announce my certification as a Personality Assessment Evaluator.
