Knowledge...

The knowledge of self is the essential knowledge; it gives knowledge of
humanity. In the understanding of the human being lies that understanding of
nature which reveals the law of creation.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

What we need most is the understanding of that religion of religions and that
philosophy of philosophies which is self-knowledge. We shall not understand the
outer life if we do not understand ourselves. It is the knowledge of the self
that gives the knowledge of the world.

One may ask, what should one study? There are two kinds of studies. One kind is
by reading the teachings of the great thinkers and keeping them in mind, the
study of metaphysics, psychology, and mysticism. And the other kind of study is
the study of life. Every day one has an opportunity for studying; but it should
be a correct study. When a person travels in a tramcar, in the train, with a
newspaper in his hand, he wants to read the sensational news which is worth
nothing. He should read human nature which is before him, people coming and
going. If he would continue to do this, he would begin to read human beings as
though they were letters written by the divine pen, which speak of their past
and future. He should look deeply at the heavens and at nature and at all the
things to be seen in everyday life, and reflect upon them with the desire to
understand. This kind of study is much superior, incomparably superior, to the
study of books.

If a person goes through his whole life most cleverly judging others, he may go
on, but he will find himself to be more foolish at every step. At the end, he
reaches the fullness of stupidity. But the one who tries, tests, studies and
observes himself, his own attitude in life, his own outlook on life, his
thought, speech, and action, who weighs and measures and teaches himself self
discipline, it is that person who is able to understand another better. How
rarely one sees a soul who concerns himself with himself through life, in order
to know! Mostly, every soul seems to be busily occupied with the lives of
others. And what do they know in the end? Nothing. If there is a kingdom of God
to be found anywhere, it is within oneself.

And it is, therefore, in the knowledge of self that there lies the fulfillment
of life. The knowledge of self means the knowledge of one's body, the knowledge
of one's mind, the knowledge of one's spirit; the knowledge of the spirit's
relation to the body and the relation of the body to the spirit; the knowledge
of one's wants and needs, the knowledge of one's virtues and faults; knowing
what we desire and how to attain it, what to pursue and what to renounce. And
when one dives deep into this, one finds before one a world of knowledge which
never ends. And it is that knowledge which gives one insight into human nature
and brings one to the knowledge of the whole of creation. And in the end one
attains to the knowledge of the divine Being.