The transformation of the world is brought about by the transformation of oneself, because the self is the product and a part of the total process of human existence. To transform oneself, self-knowledge is essential; without knowing what you are, there is no basis for right thought, and without knowing yourself there cannot be transformation. One must know oneself as one is, not as one wishes to be, which is merely an ideal and therefore fictitious, unreal; it is only that which is that can be transformed, not that which you wish to be.
世界的转变必须由个人的转变开始，因为每个人都是人类存在的整个过程的产物和组成部分。个人想要转变，自我认知必不可少; 不能认识自我，就无法产生正确的思想，而缺乏自我认知，个人就不会转变。每个人都必须认识本我，而不是自己想成为的样子，后者不过是自己的臆想，是虚幻而不真实的；转变只能在本我而非臆想的自我上发生。
To know oneself as one is requires an extraordinary alertness of mind, because what is is constantly undergoing transformation, change; and to follow it swiftly the mind must not be tethered to any particular dogma or belief, to any particular pattern of action. If you would follow anything, it is no good being tethered. To know yourself, there must be the awareness, the alertness of mind in which there is freedom from all beliefs, from all idealization, because beliefs and ideals only give you a color, perverting true perception. If you want to know what you are, you cannot imagine or have belief in something which you are not. If I am greedy, envious, violent, merely having an ideal of non-violence, of non-greed, is of little value…. The understanding of what you are, whatever it be—ugly or beautiful, wicked or mischievous—the understanding of what you are, without distortion, is the beginning of virtue. Virtue is essential, for it gives freedom.
认识自我需要极其警觉的头脑，因为现实总是处在不停转化、变幻之中；为了能够敏锐的关注现实，头脑就不能受缚于任何特定的教条、信仰或行为方式。 如果你想要关注任何事物，最好先摆脱束缚。想要认识自我，头脑中必须要有意识和警觉，只有如此才能摆脱各种信仰和理想的束缚，而这些信仰和理想只会给你带来有色的屏障，让你无法觉知真相。想要认知自我，就绝不能臆想或信奉任何根本就不是你的虚象。如果我本就是贪婪、妒忌和暴力的，仅仅是臆想自我是非暴力、不贪婪的，这样做完全没有任何意义...。对自我的认知，不论是丑陋还是美丽、顽皮还是淘气 - 对自我不带任何扭曲的认知，是美德的开端。美德必不可少，因为其中孕育了自由。