GRE® Essay: Self-knowledge is usually acquired through solitude

[Konstantin]

Hello!

Question:
The most elusive knowledge is self-knowledge, and it is usually acquired through solitude, rather than through interaction with others.

Answer:
Self-knowledge is a very mysterious thing and during all our lives we try to learn it as completely as possible. Often, it is so hard, that only some extreme events or emotions could reveal new corners of our minds. I believe that it’s possible to acquire such kind of knowledge from different sources: from thinking in solitude or from communicating with other people. All of them are equally important to understand ourselves thoroughly.

Certainly, solitude provides us with a great opportunity to understand ourselves. When we could think undistracted, we are able to concentrate on the deep thoughts, we think our past deeds over and we contemplate global things, not just movies or popular books. During the Middle Ages there were a lot of monks, living in seclusion during many years. They had tried to abstract from the everyday life and concentrated on the interaction with God, through self-analyzing. When some of them returned to the civilization, they were considered as the sages, knowing not the certain area of science, but rather the nature of the men’s mind. Therefore, we could consider the contemplations in loneliness as invaluable tool to perceive ourselves.

On the other hand, there are several techniques, which help us to investigate the secret nooks of our minds, but which are disruptive by their nature. Of course, I mean alcohol, LSD and other drugs. When a person uses some of them he obtains infinite freedom from the weekday occupations and he could express his emotions clearly, without concerns about the others’ attitude. Many great musicians, painters and other artists have been drug addicted; it has given them necessary inspiration. Observing the masterpieces of Vincent van Gogh, we learn something new about ourselves because emotions, they represent, are so clear and deep. Many people, admiring his pictures, don’t know about Vincent van Gogh’s addictions. On the other part all this stuff is quite destructive, particularly for artists themselves; a lot of them dying as madmen or self-murderers.

But acquiring self-knowledge through thinking in solitariness is not the one possible and safe way. Communication with other people is a very powerful tool to learn about new emotions, like love or hate; therefore it helps to investigate our own characters more completely. Many people already express their internal struggles in the books and it’s very useful to skim through them. As for me, I use several ways to study myself, but I especially like one of them. I enjoy talking with people from different countries by the free Internet phone and these conversations are useful not merely to learn English, but to understand more deeply other cultures and me in new contexts. No matter where my pen pales were born, in Finland or Brazil, all of them provide me with absolutely new points of view, widening my senses.

I completely agree with the statement that self-knowledge is a very hard thing to learn. At the same time there are varieties of methods which can help us to do so effectively, not merely by contemplating in solitude, but also by intercourse with others.

[Alan]

Hi,

Self-knowledge is a very mysterious thing and THROUGHOUT our lives we try to learn it as completely as possible. Often, it is so hard, that only some extreme events or emotions could reveal new corners of our minds. I believe that it’s possible to acquire such kind of knowledge from different sources: from thinking in solitude or from communicating with other people. All of them are equally important to understand ourselves thoroughly.

Certainly, solitude provides us with a great opportunity to understand ourselves. IF we CAN think undistracted, we are able to concentrate on the deep thoughts, we think our past deeds over and we contemplate global things, not just movies or popular books. During the Middle Ages there were a lot of monks, living in seclusion FOR many years. They had tried to REMOVE THEMSELVES from everyday life and concentrated on the interaction with God, through self-analyzing. When some of them returned to civilization, they were considered as sages, knowing not the certain area of science, but rather the nature of mAn’s mind. Therefore, we could consider the contemplations in loneliness as AN invaluable tool to perceive ourselves.

On the other hand, there are several techniques, which help us to investigate the secret nooks of our minds, but which are disruptive by their nature. Of course, I mean alcohol, LSD and other drugs. When a person uses some of them he obtains infinite freedom from weekday occupations and he CAN express his emotions clearly, without concerns about the ATTITUDE OF others. Many great musicians, painters and other artists have been addicted TO DRUGS; it has given them necessary inspiration. Observing the masterpieces of Vincent van Gogh, we learn something new about ourselves because THE emotions, they represent, are so clear and deep. Many people, admiring his pictures, don’t know about Vincent van Gogh’s addictions. On the other HAND all this stuff is quite destructive, particularly for artists themselves; a lot of them dying as madmen or self-murderers.

But acquiring self-knowledge through thinking in solitariness is not the one possible and safe way. Communication with other people is a very powerful tool to learn about new emotions, like love or hate; therefore it helps to investigate our own characters more completely. Many people already express their internal struggles in books and it’s very useful to skim through them. As for me, I use several ways to study myself, but I especially like one of them. I enjoy talking with people from different countries by MEANS OF free Internet phone and these conversations are useful not merely to learn English, but to understand more deeply other cultures and mYSELF in new contexts. No matter where my pen pals were born, in Finland or Brazil, all of them provide me with absolutely new points of view, widening my senses.

I completely agree with the statement that self-knowledge is a very hard thing to learn. At the same time there are varieties of methods which can help us to do so effectively, not merely by contemplating in solitude, but also by COMMUNICATION with others.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Konstantin]

Thank you very much!