To know oneself

In yogic/meditation/new age circles, we often talk about knowing ourselves without having in mind what it really means and how it is possible. Those who think they know themselves through "spiritual talk" or by talking to a psychotherapist will only ever encounter their own mental images that wander around like the shadows in the Plato's cave.   

In order to know oneself, it is paramount to go beyond oneself and to do so systematically as a habitual practice.

To go beyond oneself, one must go beyond one's possibilities, experiencing first-hand how limits are often illusory and a source of simple fear: Running beyond the limits of your possibilities, tackling a mountain walk, going forward until you are sure you can go back, repeating the same kata or yoga sequence hundreds of times in a row, or thousands of times the same mantra, or sacrificing all your energy to defeat a much stronger opponent.

It is essentially about embarking on a journey through the vehicles of pain and suffering. 

Only beyond the boundaries of one's own mind, in that suspended mental space, when one is without any foothold, is it possible to observe oneself and finally know a piece of oneself.  

m.m.