My own writing, and general philosophy, hinges on self-knowledge. In truth it's more about the knowledge of what we are not, because I espouse a shedding of identities and group mentalities. I talk about the "I am". I wrote my "I am" book first, and only afterwards, did I realise how relevant it was. It was wonderful that I had realised perennial wisdom independently.
My late wife came to my mind tonight. She had experimented with the Golden Dawn. Clare had a strong Catholic upbringing, that involved a convent school education. In fact, as a young lady she was a daily communicant, and considering whether she had a calling to become a nun. Ultimately though, she reacted against her guilt, her Catholicism, and began many experiments.
There is a list in the Roman Catholic church of groups, systems, and activities, which are sinful for Catholics; for example, astrology, Tarot, and I Ching. Clare was highly proficient at all three of those. In her last years she pursued Kriya Yoga, but her most evil and naughty transgression, if not Scientology, had to be Aleister Crowley’s works. He significantly said, “know thyself.” Clare studied the gigantic tome, "The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic." I found these related words online.
“'The Devil' is, historically, the God of any people that one personally dislikes. This has led to so much confusion of thought that THE BEAST 666 has preferred to let names stand as they are, and to proclaim simply that AIWAZ, the solar-phallic-hermetic 'Lucifer,' is His own Holy Guardian Angel, and 'The Devil' SATAN or HADIT, the Supreme Soul behind RA-HOOR-KHUIT the Sun, the Lord of our particular unit of the Starry Universe. This serpent, SATAN, is not the enemy of Man, but He who made Gods of our race, knowing Good and Evil; He bade 'Know Thyself!' and taught Initiation. He is 'the Devil' of the Book of Thoth, and His emblem is BAPHOMET, the Androgyne who is the hieroglyph of arcane perfection.”
~Magick in Theory and Practice
It’s special that I accidentally hit this webpage.
It has another 119 quotes about this subject, by about every major thinker from around about the beginning of time.
That's spectacular. It's vital wisdom. I've shared this link at the bottom of my Galley page, for those who don't read my blogs.