Concerning the title...

In case anyone is curious as to the inspiration behind the title of my blog, the sources are plentiful, so let me just name a few. To begin, there are those famous ancient statements of which many will recall:

"Know thyself" ~Delphic Oracle

"The unexamined life is not worth living" ~Socrates (The Apology)

"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance" ~Socrates (The Apology)

"I do not understand my own actions." ~Paul of Tarsus (Letter to the Romans)

"I have been made a question unto myself." ~Augustine of Hippo (Confessions)

But perhaps most significant are the more recent reflections of the postmodernists with their valuable explorations of the limits of reason and knowledge, both in regards to our own "selves" and in relation to what many in the 20th century have described as the mysterious "other", i.e., everything from other humans, the world around us, all that is not our momentary conscious thoughts, and even the divine. In this regard, though some of them have expressed dislike for the label "postmodern" (or never lived long enough to even hear of it), the following thinkers have all deeply influenced my thought: Ernst Cassirer, Carl Jung, Eric Voegelin, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricoeur, and John D. Caputo.

And so, here I am, continuing to strive for understanding and the betterment of both myself and those around me, yet through it all life never ceases to be a mystery and (surprise, surprise) I too remain a mystery unto* myself.

*I would have gone with "to" but that domain name was taken, so I had to use the more archaic (and perhaps more pretentious sounding) "unto".