Accurate self-knowledge is essential but not sufficient for deep and lasting change in ourselves and our counselees. As Calvin taught in the 16^th century, “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” 

Every counseling model seeks increased and more accurate self-knowledge as one of its aims. Everyone agrees that poor self-awareness and self-deception hinder personal growth. But not everyone agrees on what that self-knowledge looks like or how to attain it. Let’s look at two different models of increased self-knowledge.

Secular Theory (CBT)

Positive psychologist Christina Wilson, PhD, writes, “Self-knowledge is essential for personal growth, decision making, and accurate self-assessment. It is the opposite of ignorance and helps us make sense of our experiences. Importantly, self-knowledge is an essential tool to help in the change process. Change is hard. It requires intentionality and courage.”^[1] So, if “self-knowledge is an essential tool to help in the change process,” how does one attain self-knowledge?

Author and counselor Meg Selig shares the following strategies^[2]:

• Listen to compliments and absorb them.
• Notice your emotions.
• Notice what you are thinking.
• Become friends with your mistakes.
• Keep a journal or take time to reflect.
• Listen to other people, but make and live by your own decisions.
• Talk to a therapist or counselor.
• Try personality or temperament tests.
• Practice assertiveness.
• Surround yourself with good people who accept you and foster your growth.

While there are some helpful ideas here, it’s clear in secular counseling models that self-knowledge is attained intra-personally (from oneself) and inter-personally (with a little help from your friends), but there is no vertical dimension. The very concept of secular means worldly—there is no necessary reference to God. This is “the wisdom of the world” (1 Cor. 1:20-21), which the apostle Paul says is ultimately foolishness. Therefore, worldly self-knowledge alone is ultimately futile in the counseling process.

John Calvin

Reformer John Calvin had a very different idea about attaining self-knowledge. In chapter 1 of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, he writes,

“Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves…Again, it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself.”^[3]

While Calvin would agree with our modern psychologists that self-knowledge is essential for human growth and flourishing, he would disagree that self-knowledge and wisdom for living can be attained from a merely secular framework. Calvin recognizes that knowledge of self is inseparable from knowledge of God; in fact, self-knowledge is impossible apart from God since humans owe their very existence to God, and the most important characteristic of a human is that he/she is created in the image of God.

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