On Looking Within (Short Article)

The term "looking within" is not meant to be taken literally. It does not mean seeing your internal organs, but rather seeing yourself beyond the sphere of societal interactions and day-to-day regularity. It means seeing yourself as a distinct individual with a degree of depth that is often overlooked.

There are many ways to discover the deeper aspects of yourself, and many of them involve voluntary isolation, or solitude. This is because when you are alone, there are fewer things and beings to distract you from what you are doing. Solitude can provide the concentration and silence necessary for self-reflection.

The deeper aspects of yourself are always present within you, regardless of the situation. It is simply that we do not regularly pay enough attention to them, due to the necessity of focusing on other things for our survival and development.

If you ask a random person what they are thinking about, they are likely to not know what to answer. This is because we as humans are always producing and experiencing thoughts, but without enough awareness, we cannot describe them or what they entail.

Dedicate some time to listening to your thoughts, and even record them in whatever form you choose. Your thoughts are the gates to the desired aspects of the self you may be looking for.

You can thus know that you have looked within yourself in a sufficient matter when you are able to properly describe what you’re thinking about when asked so in whatever situation. You can see it as a test of the current capacity of your self-knowledge.

Have someone to ask you this exact question from time to time, and you may be able to pass this test the more you practice the focusing and/or recording of your thoughts and feelings, just like any other test that requires an immediate answer.