We all love mysteries. And they can be fun to solve.
But there’s one mystery that’s so much more than a simple diversion. Its solution can connect us to untold resources for solving problems, both our own and the problems of the world. It’s the greatest mystery of all, and the one with the greatest transformational power…
It’s the mystery of our own self — of who we really are and what we’re here for.
It’s so important that we solve this mystery because, as OneJourney founder Guy Finley tells us, “the only problem that any of us has with life — or with others, for that matter — is what we have yet to discover about ourselves.”
By untangling the riddle of who we are at the very core of our being, we free ourselves of self-harming misperceptions and misconceptions that bring us pain, put us at enmity with others, and hold us back from fulfilling our true possibilities.
Even more, our inner discoveries allow us to break through to a higher level of being so that we can develop to the height and breadth of our full potential.
The fact of this great mystery, and the promise its resolution holds for us, has been expressed by many sages through the centuries. Here’s a sampling of their wisdom:
Man does not know himself and does not know how to use the energies hidden in him, nor does he know that he carries the stars hidden in himself and that he is the microcosm, and thus carries within him the whole firmament with all its influence.
— Paracelcus (1493)
But when people are told to seek God within, it is like telling them to go to another planet. What is farther away and more unknown than the bottom of your own heart?
— Francois Fenelon (1651)
Man is a mystery: if you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out, then do not say that you have wasted your time. I occupy myself with this mystery, because I want to be a man.
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821)
But where can man find the truth? If he seeks deep enough in himself he will find it revealed, each man may know his own heart. He may send a ray of his intelligence into the depths of his soul and search its bottom; he may find it to be as infinitely deep as the sky above his head. He may find corals and pearls, or watch the monsters of the deep. If his thought is steady and unwavering, he may enter the innermost sanctuary of his own temple and see the goddess unveiled. Not everyone can penetrate into such depths, because the thought is easily led astray; but the strong and persistent searcher will penetrate veil after veil, until at the innermost centre he discovers the germ of truth, which, awakened to consciousness, will grow into a sun that illuminates the whole of the interior world, wherein everything is contained.
— Franz Hartman (1838)
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.
— Max Planck (1858)
Nearly all mankind is more or less unhappy because nearly all do not know the true Self. Real happiness abides in Self-knowledge alone. All else is fleeting. To know one’s Self is to be blissful always.
— Ramana Maharshi (1879)
Steadily he approaches the point where what is unknown is not a mere blank space in a web of words but a window in the mind, a window whose name is not ignorance but wonder.
— Alan Watts (1915)
Are you ready to dive in and unravel the mystery of who you really are? You will find many more helpful quotes from sages through the centuries in our online OneJourney Living Book.
Volunteer for deliberate spiritual growth by daring to venture into the unknown. It may surprise you to discover that the circumstances necessary just for you, and for your continuing inner development are much closer than you think!
Perhaps something you have found in your own favorite tradition speaks about the great mystery of our own being and the wonders of self-discovery. If so, please click here to submit it to the OneJourney Living Book.
Best wishes,
Dr. Ellen Dickstein
The OneJourney Project
