Thales and the Brain

Thales (was that a first or a last name?), an engineer by trade, was the first of the Seven Sages or wise men of Ancient Greece. He was thought to be born about 624 BC in Miletus, Asia Minor (now Balat, Turkey) and died approximately 547 BC. Known as the first Greek philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, he founded the geometry of lines, so is given credit for introducing abstract geometry. He is also acknowledged by a number of sources as the one who defined the constellation Ursa Minor and used it for navigation. Impressive. What caught my attention, however, is a quote attributed to him: Know yourself¾the most difficult thing in life is to know yourself. Yesterday I was contacted by an individual who had just arrived at an increased awareness of his brain’s innate energy advantage, this after taking the BTSA 10 years ago and being upset at the time because the feedback results didn’t match either his current job or his developed skills). Now, years later, exhausted and diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, he is now open to looking at his data from a different perspective. I think Thales figured out an important truth way back then, a truth that somehow appears to have disappeared from general consciousness. It is difficult, often a huge and rather frightening difficult, to figure out who you are in terms of innate brain function, especially if you’ve spent a good portion of your life being told by others who you are, even though they have no idea who they are, much less who you are. My experience? Knowing yourself is worth the work! (By the way, another quote attributed to Thales: “A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind." I like that one, too!)