In Search of Self

About this poem

The words of the ancient Greek aphorism “Know Thyself,” that point to the stages of one’s life and of life’s ultimate individuated destination, are transcribed in the pronaos of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Similarly, are the sentiments of Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage” immortal lines, uttered by Shakespeare’s character Jacques to Duke Senior in Act II, Scene VII of the play, As You Like It. The famous Greek aphorism and the immortal lines of Shakespeare’s character Jacques, have in many ways framed my intellectual thought processes since early childhood. So, too, in my professional life as an educator and a philosopher, have been the experiential pronouncements of Swiss analytical psychologist, Carl Gustav Jung, concerning the teleological archetypal drive of humanity towards the accomplishment of Individuation or self-fulfillment that is motivated in the psyche of the individual, either consciously or unconsciously. Growing up as a student in Colonial Jamaica during the 1950’s, I thrived on many of the plays of the Bard of Avon, often reciting them while attending high school. During the latter years of my adulthood, and while in seminary school auditing classes, I became more intimately acquainted with the psalms of biblical King David, as well as the poetry and proverbs of biblical King Solomon. Towards the end of his own life, and reputed as a king of great wisdom and glory, Solomon sought to reorder the priorities of his life and, in humble confession as an old man, stated (in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14): “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing. Whether good or evil.” As a senior citizen, an octogenarian, this poem is a reflection on the intervening stages and passages that have occurred in my own life, then and now, as I, too, like Solomon, seek to reorder the priorities of my life by putting God first and foremost. more »