Mastery

(stamp size 2.75" x .75")

A wonderful quote from Yoda that I try to apply to my own life. Carved in orange PZKut for the upcoming Quotations LTC swap hosted by my friend Onefourth.

In probing and pondering this idea of mastery further, I found some writing by a Jedi named Valerius that I found interesting. Perhaps you will, as well.

“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge - know thyself.”
~Plato

Plato said that human behavior tends to come from desire, emotion, or knowledge. We must understand this for many reasons...if we understand the desires and emotional tendencies of others we will better be able to understand and predict their actions. This, however, is not the main point of understanding where our actions as people come from. We know that we should train to understand our own desires and attachments so that we may act not out of base lusts or emotional outbursts, but from the core of our being...the part that acts out of the best knowledge we have in a given situation. We then must practice the doctrine of "Know Thyself."

We must understand and probe the depths of our own beings, and understand our so-called "hot buttons" to find harmony with our own deepest fears. When we understand the root of our own fears and attachments, we can train ourselves to act out of knowledge and not from desire and emotion. This has a multi-fold benefit including deepening our relationship with both loved ones and strangers because we can move past our own blockages and love and support others, as well as allowing us to make a small difference wherever we can.

When we can indeed rise beyond our own weaknesses to reach out to others, we will have gained that elusive mastery of self that we are seeking.

Like a city whose walls are broken down

is a man who lacks self-control.

~Proverbs 25:28