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So, what is the importance of knowing yourself? I can give you the most beautiful map, very well illustrated; everything is there; everything is marked—and there is a very beautiful place on the map that you want to go to.

But what is the most important thing you need to have on that map? And that is, "Where are you on that map?" Because, "turn left, turn right, and go straight" is all relevant to where you are. But if you don't know where you are, what is "left?" What is "right?" What is "go straight?" What is "go around the roundabout"—it doesn’t mean anything.

And we forget! People are writing books; people are making lectures, and they’re telling everybody, "You know, we have to turn left; we have to turn left." And then, "Oh no, now we have to turn right." Whose "right?" Whose "left?" Which "left?" Where are we going? Which "straight?" Because it’s all relative.

Unless you know who you are, living in this world is going to be very different. Because one of the things is going to be disorientation because you don't know where you are. You're lost. That feeling of—yeah, somewhere here—"What I am about to do, is that right? Do people like me? Am I popular?"

This is all before you ever get to loving yourself. You are more interested in whether other people love you. You're not even interested in whether you love yourself. And it's disorienting; look at what's—what is social media all about? Approval from other people.

So, now I am bringing this message—it's not my message. Socrates said this a long time ago. Some of the hieroglyphs that were deciphered from Egypt also said the same thing: "Understand who you are; know yourself." Socrates echoes that—"Know yourself. Know thyself." Because the importance of knowing yourself is so important.

- Prem Rawat

What is your investment? I’m talking about this now, so I’ll tell you—three things. Three things. Maybe I’ll add a few more. Three things.

One, “Know the difference between wisdom and knowledge.” Acquire the knowledge. But use that knowledge wisely: wisdom! Without that wisdom—ha-ha!

So, there is a lot of technical knowledge in this world—a lot of technical knowledge—but without that wisdom, it’s being used by people to kill each other. Use it wisely, and it could be there to reverse the effects of global warming. Use it wisely; it could be helping the polar bears, as they’re losing their housing.

The ills that human beings have done, the same technology can reverse it—if wisdom was there. But no wisdom is there and it is used in a stupid way.

So, knowledge is good, but it needs to be used wisely.

Two! Two: “Know yourself.” Who are you? What is your strength? You lie, of course, in this desert, devoid of much color, devoid of any sustainability for anything living—and yet that tiny little seed, if the rain comes—which it will—can transform even the desert. All its monotony, all its problems—gone. “Know thyself.”

Third! Third: Everybody is into social media and this and that; we want to communicate with other people. That’s not what you need. It’s fine; I’m not saying one way or the other way; it’s up to you. You want to use—it’s your time. You know, it’s your body—if you want to throw it in front of a car because you were doing this while you were crossing, walking across....

You see, technology, knowledge, but no wisdom. So they got the phone, but no wisdom. They got the technology, but no wisdom. As soon as the traffic comes to a stop, you know what people are doing? They’re not looking that the car is moving. And so people start honking.

So, the solution, in my opinion, is what you need to garner is empathy. Not sympathy; empathy. This will make you far more sociably acceptable. You want to become socially acceptable? Sympathy isn’t going to give it to you; empathy is.

If something can stop the wars, it is if people could just empathize. They don’t do that anymore. No empathy—to be able to place yourself in the other person’s shoes. That doesn’t mean you agree with them; it doesn’t mean you disagree with them—just to be able to see their viewpoint.

- Prem Rawat

Who are you? What are you?

When you hear "Do you know yourself?" What does that mean?

Is it some definition that somebody's going to plunk in your head? It better not be.

Because it has to be something that you know from the bottom of your heart-who you are.

That you were given an opportunity to be alive.

-Prem Rawat

You could hear a pin drop earlier this week as Prem spoke at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in California about this drama called life, and making every step you take on life's stage count—before you reach the final curtain.

Enjoy the full talk with your subscription, including Prem’s lively conversation with the MC, career coach Ashley Stahl, about the themes in his newly-released book "Peace is Possible."

You could hear a pin drop earlier this week as Prem spoke at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in California about this drama called life, and making every step you take on life's stage count—before you reach the final curtain.

Enjoy the full talk with your subscription, including Prem’s lively conversation with the MC, career coach Ashley Stahl, about the themes in his newly-released book "Peace is Possible."

Prem Rawat:

You have to choose. And do you know that at every intersection of my life I had a choice? This is hindsight; it's 20-20. Believe me, I can't explain it. This feeling came over me that every intersection, every inch, every mile that I have traveled on this road of life, I had a choice.

Onscreen text:

Choice

Prem Rawat:

Yes, things came my way, but I had a choice. I accepted them. Good things, bad things came and I chose even those things that brought the consequence that was. And of course I can plead ignorance; I didn't know. But I chose. Should I have chosen without knowing? No. Hindsight's 20-20. But I chose.

Those of you who want that peace inside, you have to make that choice. In your life, doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result is not going to work. And people who do, little rocky to say the least.

In the same grind, hoping that one day everything will change. How? You have to make a choice. If you want that change, you have to make that choice. Do you want peace in your life? You have to make a choice. People will say to me, "Is it that easy? No searching, no going to the top of the Himalayas, no surrendering everything, burying your head in the snow for eight years? I mean, none of that stuff? Just have to make a choice?" Of course.

You have looked outside; maybe it is time to look inside. You have believed in many things; maybe the time has come to know. You have made many excuses; maybe the time has come to make the choice. Make a choice. Most importantly, make the connection.

It is not about lamenting the past. I made the wrong choices or the right choices. It is—wow, I get to choose? Tomorrow I get to choose? Yeah! And the day after that you get to choose. You want to be happy or you want to be sad? You want to be fulfilled or you want to be empty? Choose.

- Prem Rawat