Erich Fromm in his work The Art of Listening (p.45) repeats the ancient Delphic truth to “Know Thyself”.
Fromm seems to believe that there is some kind of connection between the internal and external world. I am not clear on the extent to which this is true. Nonetheless exploring this truth has made all the difference.
How is one to know the world? How is one to live and react properly if the very instrument which is to act, which is to decide, is not known to ourselves? We are the guide, the leader of this “I” which manages in some way to live in the world, to make decisions, to have priorities, to have values. If this “I,” this main subject which decides and acts, is not properly known to us, it must follow that all our actions, all our decisions are done half blindly or in a half-awakened state.