The first step to self-knowledge is rejection of the familiar.

Self-knowledge is a trait that is touted to be the superior of all the traits that embody us. More often than not, it has been claimed to be in direct connection with God. Although, self-knowledge can be esoteric to many and may seem unachievable, there are many in the world who advocate that practising self-renunciation and seeking divine knowledge should be a person's end goal. A romanticized version embracing and seeking your capabilities, this idea definitely has ramifications in the lives of humans since times immemorial. However, to attain this knowledge of self, the role of the rejection of familiar is debatable and often depends on the perspective.

Sages in ancient Indian scriptures are well-known to have powers such as telepathy and telekinesis through which they were able to possess infinite knowledge and infinite wisdom. Their preachings often exude the message that these powers have been attained through self-knowledge and one must renounce their worldly pleasures and do 'tapas'(a form of very hard meditation) for years to achieve this feat. If these scriptures were believed to be true, 'tapas' is a form of rejecting everything we ever knew, and even rejecting our body and therefore acquiring self-knowledge does require the rejection of the familiar.

Also, there is a theory in Philosophy which propounds that only the self is real and everything else is illusory and perceived. According to this theory, we must reject everything which our own brain make us see, touch, smell and hear. Now the question remains that if we are alone and everything else is intangible, then who am I and what is my purpose, which directly implies self-knowledge.

One could contend that in a fast moving world it is often imprudent to think of self-knowledge as a way to achieve divineness. However, a parallel could be drawn between self-knowledge and realizing ones capabilities. Maybe a student is very weak in Math and everyone around him including his teachers and parents believes that he couldn't earn a honest livelihood. However, he went on to become a world renowned artist. There are plethora of examples and success stories in the world involving people who have failed only to realize their true capabilities and gifts they are endowed with. We can't directly negate that these people have rejected the familiar but we can asser that they accepted the familiar but rejected the conclusions that are implied by them.

It has been an open question even since the pre-historic men as to what the purpose of humans on earth. It even led to us searching for life on other planets. However, this remained a question with no precise answers in sight. Rejection of the known principles has been touted to be empowering for the ancients but it is not prudent in the today's world and therefore humans should adapt the principles they read from their ancients to chalk their own path.

Votes
Average: 8.3 (1 vote)
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Essays by the user:

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 332, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: couldn't
...s teachers and parents believes that he couldnt earn a honest livelihood. However, he w...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 345, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'an' instead of 'a' if the following word starts with a vowel sound, e.g. 'an article', 'an hour'
Suggestion: an
...d parents believes that he couldnt earn a honest livelihood. However, he went on ...
^
Line 7, column 594, Rule ID: CANT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'can't' or 'cannot'?
Suggestion: can't; cannot
...ies and gifts they are endowed with. We cant directly negate that these people have ...
^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, however, if, may, so, then, therefore, well, as to, such as

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 31.0 19.5258426966 159% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 9.0 12.4196629213 72% => OK
Conjunction : 24.0 14.8657303371 161% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 11.3162921348 159% => OK
Pronoun: 51.0 33.0505617978 154% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 54.0 58.6224719101 92% => OK
Nominalization: 9.0 12.9106741573 70% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2427.0 2235.4752809 109% => OK
No of words: 481.0 442.535393258 109% => OK
Chars per words: 5.04573804574 5.05705443957 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.68313059816 4.55969084622 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.91671173606 2.79657885939 104% => OK
Unique words: 252.0 215.323595506 117% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.523908523909 0.4932671777 106% => OK
syllable_count: 758.7 704.065955056 108% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59117977528 101% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 6.24550561798 144% => OK
Article: 3.0 4.99550561798 60% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 3.10617977528 32% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.77640449438 56% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.38483146067 46% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 21.0 20.2370786517 104% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 23.0359550562 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 53.1489158519 60.3974514979 88% => OK
Chars per sentence: 115.571428571 118.986275619 97% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.9047619048 23.4991977007 97% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.33333333333 5.21951772744 64% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 10.2758426966 78% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 5.13820224719 156% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.83258426966 103% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.277934061633 0.243740707755 114% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.082029351395 0.0831039109588 99% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0958647462267 0.0758088955206 126% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.15637663554 0.150359130593 104% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0867633661822 0.0667264976115 130% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.8 14.1392134831 98% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 49.15 48.8420337079 101% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.9 12.1743820225 98% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.31 12.1639044944 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.6 8.38706741573 103% => OK
difficult_words: 118.0 100.480337079 117% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 12.0 11.8971910112 101% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.2143820225 96% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.7820224719 102% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Rates: 83.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 5.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.