Know yourself!

Name	The Oracle Delphi
Life	600 BC
Country	Greece
Category	Wisdom
Wikipedia	>>

Imprinted on marble, these words could be read on the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. Close by was the stone that the old Greeks believed marked the center - the navel - of the world, terrae umbilicus, as the Romans said. This piece of advice - "know yourself" - is at the center of Western wisdom. Today, the new biological knowledge permits us, better than ever, to do so. Animals do not know themselves. They simply exist, chasing food and sex. Among all the animals, only the chimpanzee can recognize himself in a mirror. But he is almost human; 98 out of 100 of his buildingblocks, his DNA-segments, are identical to ours. Know yourself! This is the wisest council mankind ever got. But do we follow it? Or do we, too, put it off for another chase after food, women or careers? Look, for instance, at businessmen, scientists, politicians, "IT-nerds" or at common people. They seem to reason like this: We must earn a little more money, make another deal, even another million dollars, before we look into the mirror and ask: "Why?" Aren't we tempted to make one more experiment, one more innovation, one more scientific advance, before we ask: "Why do I do it and what does it lead to?" Aren't we forced to make one more promise or one more appealing statement in order to gain one more vote and win one more election, before we have time to scrutinize the likely long-term

effects of our short-term gains? And, my dear youngster, aren't you pushed by publicity to buy one more unnecessary gadget, to visit one more night-cludb,fg to look at one more web-site, before you ask yourself what YOU, ideally, want to do with the only life that is yours?If you come home, tired and worn-out after a day's toil, everyone understands that it is much easier to press a TV-button and forget or dream, than to start thinking. Seriously, haven't we neglected to follow the wise advice from Delphi, so much so that we haven't even noticed that we exist under a misnomer? In our hubris, we have given ourselves the nice name of Homo sapiens sapiens, the doubly wise man. If we carefully scrutinize our human nature and our historical behavior, however, would it not be more correct to name us Homo sapiens praedator? Afterall, don't we often imagine ourselves to be like monotheistic gods - omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent? In our striving to realize this ideal, hasn't Man behaved like a most ferocious predator, conquering all of nature, all other animals, all the world - except knowledge of himself? What is your share in this vain attempt? To stimulate you to think about this is the intention of this little "philosophical park". When you have looked at the other quotations, may I suggest that you go home to your mirror, look carefully in it, contemplate the picture, and, as suggested in Delphi, learn to know yourself!