Self-Knowledge is the First Step Towards Realizing One's Dreams

Much has been written about manifestation, and the techniques that one may use to make dreams and desires materialize. But a crucial step that's often missing in these sorts of programs - either because it's lacking in the material itself or else it's lacking in people's understanding of it - is the necessity of self-knowledge. People need to have an understanding of the forces driving them; we need to know our real motivations and beliefs and fears before we can have a sense of where the currents of our lives are sweeping us. Then we can use that understanding to usher the flow in new directions.

Each of us directs our lives, though, regardless of whether we're aware of doing so or not - or whether we like the results or not. Whenever we blame God or politicians or society in general (to give just a few examples) for our personal predicaments, we're turning a blind eye to the reality of our being. We wield the power that creates our lives all the time; not just when we may try to focus or harness it in some ritual way (through various New Age practices, for example). It's really just a simple question of whether we'll create our lives consciously or unconsciously.

A human being's life grows around him or her much like a flower's petals spread from its stem. There is nothing random or accidental about it - relationships, wealth, health, and satisfaction are all natural outgrowths of the life force.

Consider the perils and pitfalls of a life lived blindly versus the satisfaction of a life grown out of conscious awareness. The first step to attaining the kind of lives we want for ourselves is the reaching of self-knowledge - i.e., becoming acquainted with the forces inside of us and then discriminating between the ones that bring us fulfillment and the ones that lead us into darkness.

Real change is initiated from within; it moves from the inside out. Proof of this can be seen in the ways that societies and even whole cultures have been transformed by ideas. The same thing happens within individuals, where a shift in the way one feels and responds to reality can alter the trajectory of one's whole life.