9. Self-Knowledge as the First and Hardest Step Towards the Truth

What is the most important knowledge to gain? Is it not self-knowledge? I am convinced that the deep ignorance of our nature is the greatest catastrophe for humanity. How do I think? How do my feelings and emotions arise? Why do I react the way I do? If people knew themselves, they would not be deceived by others. With self-knowledge, we would know who we are, what we can do and achieve and what is impossible for us. But unfortunately, people do not know themselves. No school or university teaches us the truth about ourselves.

When I started talking to patients about their life stories, I noticed that people misjudged themselves. It was easy to see from their stories that they had a false self-image. I had to ask myself: do I also see myself so wrongly? We have a great difficulty in not knowing ourselves. Self-knowledge may be difficult, but regardless, it is essential that we understand the processes within ourselves in order to be able to explain illness.

We can use mirrors to achieve self-knowledge. For the body, it is the mirror that we all know. Does a mirror reflect reality? A good mirror shows an exact reflection. But what is the mirror for the spirit? How do I realize who I am as a person?

It is important that I recognize myself by an objective standard. What is available to us for this?

The means to self-knowledge

A. The body: We have already looked at the structure of the human brain and the cerebral cortex in particular. With the help of the nerves, which connect even the smallest parts of the entire body, all bodily functions are controlled via the cerebral cortex. This is only possible because we have a spirit. Spirit and body act together like a player and his piano. Through thoughts and decisions, the spirit controls and sends electrical currents into the body. As there is no choice for an organ except to take, the brain, in its function as a channel, receives these currents and reacts accordingly, i.e. it transmits the impulse to the body exactly as specified by the spirit.

The first physical reaction takes place in the limbic system. Through emotions, hormones (chemistry) report back in an initial cycle whether the thought that caused the electrical impulse was appropriate for the body or not. Emotions are always a consequence of thoughts, i.e. an effect. Emotions and thoughts are therefore not parallel. For example, a thought of fear is unconsciously thought and then realized as a stressful emotion for the body via electrical impulses with subsequent hormone release. This means that people themselves are responsible for what they perceive as an emotion. Emotions are ultimately the mirror of our unconscious thinking.

In the case of the patient with the severe headache (case 5), the emotions occurred after she had changed her loving thoughts about her boyfriend. The trigger was the negative information about her boyfriend's infidelity, which did not meet the needs of her spirit. The woman therefore started to think thoughts of disappointment, hurt and also possible revenge. After receiving the information, her thoughts were no longer free, but trapped. From the moment she began to think compulsively and was thus trapped, she made decisions that initially caused a negative emotion in the limbic system as a non-bodily impulse. After a short time, headaches set in as a further reaction.

Because the body is controlled by the spirit, it is a perfect mirror for the spirit. It is objective and cannot lie because it only ever passes on what it is given or done to it. The body - as a mirror - can reveal the truth about itself to the spirit. And since the spirit can basically only be characterized by two pieces of information - truth or lies - the body proves to the spirit whether it is thinking truthfully or following a lie. This process is an important objective standard that helps the spirit to recognize its unconscious self-deception and then replace it with the truth.

B. The trapped spirit: As long as a person receives information that corresponds to their spiritual needs, they remain free. He does not have to react negatively. Since his expectations are met, there is no problem. But the moment the other person no longer does what is expected of them - or what would be right from their own point of view - the problem begins.

When I was little, my grandfather had a dog. If you teased him, he would bite his own tail and run around in circles. It's certainly not a wise thing to do if you destroy yourself just because others make a mistake. But that is exactly the general process with all the patients I have examined. Even if I knew everyone in the world, I probably wouldn't find an exception.

Now some patients think they have the choice to think differently. They could avoid getting angry. Can they really do that?

Case 8

After 35 years of marriage, a patient realized that her husband had been cheating on her with several women in different places since the beginning of their marriage. About three years after the woman found out about this, she came to my practice with several complaints. One of them was her sleep disorder. She said: "I can no longer sleep at night. I then drive around in my car and look at the stars while I think about how I can get out of this situation."

Is this woman free in spirit or is she trapped? Who is imprisoning her? The woman was happy and content with her husband for 35 years. It was only when she found out about the cheating that the process of destruction began within her. Who can help her as long as she does not realize that she is destroying herself? No one can. She thinks that her husband's actions are destroying her. But her husband's act didn't harm her as long as she didn't know about it. This makes it clear that only the way we perceive and evaluate something can harm us.

When I realized that all my patients were self-destructors, I asked myself: Why are they doing this to themselves? Of course, I discovered the same problem with myself. It affects all people because they are all identical in their function. So, what is the mistake? Where do we all go wrong?

A deception consists of the fact that the information received is regarded as the truth. As long as the information is not recognized as a lie, it remains the truth for the deceived person. The misery therefore only comes about because the lie is accepted as truth.

C. Nature's basic law of cause and effect: Let's look at our relationship patterns. We have relationships with our mother, father, spouse, children, pets, etc. Why do we have these relationships? Because we love these people and want to give them something? Or because we want to get something from them, namely to be loved? Why did the woman with the headache move in with her boyfriend? Why does someone get married? Do they want to give or get something? The usual answer is: "Both!" Is that true? We have seen from the law that giving and receiving at the same time in the same place does not work. It is not possible. Nor can you go forwards and backwards at the same time.

The error in man forces a thought upon him: I am dependent on love and on the doing and being (existence) of other people. Is that really the case? There are two roots to the problem. Either people do not do what we think is right and expect of them - or they do it but die and are lost to us.

With the mostly unconscious thought of dependency, all people with whom I enter into a relationship become my debtors. We start the relationship by giving (at least we think we do) and not by taking. But this contradicts the law. In nature, everything works according to the principle of taking in order to give. However, people think that they give first in order to take or receive afterwards. The human spirit is fundamentally mistaken because it thinks that it first gives of itself. Therefore, others would owe him something and would have to give him something in return.

Because of the fallacy, everyone gives "first" and expects something in return - even if they think they don't expect it. If nothing comes back from the other person, the negative thoughts you have about them reveal that something is wrong.

In summary, we have three things that help us to recognize ourselves:

1. The body shows us by our emotions, dysfunctions, anxiety and all kinds of diseases.
2. A trapped spirit with a hopeless perspective. Thoughts that are constant and give you no peace.
3. The basic law of cause and effect, which stipulates that *taking* comes before *giving.* That only the individual himself can satisfy his needs by taking everything he needs physically and spiritually from outside and passing it on, i.e. implementing it. No one can drink, eat or think for another.