Self-knowledge

This is the individual's knowledge of his ego, of his self, of his abilities, dispositions, errors and weaknesses, and response patterns. It is considered of considerable importance in some philosophical systems. In psychology, the potential for self-deception led to its replacement by operationally definable concepts such as: self-image, self-concept, and self-assessment.

In Christian terms, self-knowledge is knowledge of one's self as a person towards whom God has love; and awareness of those aspects of one's self which aid or hinder progress in the spiritual life and the realization of divinely given potential. Growth in response to grace is not achieved, however, by self-knowledge sought at the expense of other duties or regardless of one's neighbour.

According to Zen, because one's nature cannot be expressed in terms of things seen or known to the mind, becoming aware of one's own nature is referred to as no-seeing. True awareness of self is of the form known by small babies before the awakening of mental operations, [adhyasa]

, which ascribe properties on the basis of having been aware of them elsewhere. Self-knowing is the supreme insight, the I looking directly at the I, [prajna paramita]

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To the Sufi, the knower of the Self is the lover of God. Distinctions between what is and what is "mine" disappear in transcendent and unitive experience of the truth (al-Haqq).

In order to understand and change society it is said to be necessary to understand and change one's self, since politics and society originate in the depths of the human heart. What one is unconsciously trying to achieve may be the very opposite of what one thinks one is aiming for at the conscious level. However good the action, if it is instigated by an unworthy motive, however unconscious, it will in the end result in harm rather than good. This is why self-knowledge is necessary.