Knowing answer to primary question “WHO AM I” makes the difference between man and beast

Permitting others to define own self is slavery to them!

People like Nelson Mandela spent decades in jail to restore freedom of his and his people and such people are viewed as great and are also called “Father of Nation” later. If they had sought their own comfort and safety, it would mean they are not different from “beast” which goes by the obvious, thus sees that there are only SIX categories of species—ONE-sensed plants, TWO-sensed worms, THREE-sensed insects and FOUR-sensed reptiles, FIVE-sensed fishes/birds/animals, SIX-sensed humans whose Immaterial Self enjoys through five physical sense organs. Hence this famous quote: “Let the person who has insight calculate the number (arithmos)# of the beast, for it is the number (arithmos) of a man (anthropos). That number is 666."

Greek word anthropos captures of the essence of what we really are

Greek word for man, anthropos, captures of the essence of what we really are as it is “a combination of ανηρ (aner), “man,” and ωψ (ops), “face or look.” Aner (man) “stems from the Proto-Indo-European noun "hner", meaning man or vital energy” and has “proximity to the Hebrew noun נר (ner), meaning lamp, from the verb נהר (nahar), meaning to flow (what a river does) and to shine (what a lamp does).” (Theological Dictionary, Abarim) Thus the word anthropos is like a contronym “a word with two meanings that happen to be the opposite of each other” like the word FAST which means “firmly fixed and unmoving or able to move rapidly” as man can manifest qualities of BODY or qualities of SPIRIT which are opposites of each other.

If one believes half-truth that he is this BODY, made of more with water, he behaves like water that goes upward as vapor under heat but flows downward when there is no such special compelling reason, like monkey that shows its greed in the absence of more powerful humans around but behaves disciplined in the presence of more powerful humans. If one believes he is USER and BUILDER of this body, thus the Immaterial, Invisible, Eternal Entity, then its qualities [wisdom, purity, love, joy, peace, power, bliss] flow from him like light “flows from a lamp.” If one feels he is this BODY, then its qualities [ego, lust, attachment, anger, greed, envy] flow from him like water in river flows downward--and these qualities are opposites of each other.

The above is implied in the definition of man, according to Socrates: "The word "man" implies that other animals never examine, or consider, or look up at what they see, but that man not only sees (opope) but considers and looks up at that which he sees, and hence he alone of all animals is rightly anthropos, meaning anathron a opopen." (From Plato's Cratylus 399c, classic.mit.edu/Plato/cratylus) “On earth the brute creation bends its gaze, but man was given a lofty countenance and was commanded to behold the skies; and with an upright face may view the stars.” (Poet Ovid, topostext .org)

Best example of understanding this meaning is Abraham (great ancestor of Jews, Christians and Muslims) who looked at the “sky” and learned the fact that planets rotates themselves at great speed and rotates around sun at great speed, yet cause no accident or traffic jam as though their religion is peace. Hence he made OFFERING FIRST CHOICE TO OTHERS as his philosophy of life which is seen in his famous statement to his relative “If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”

Hence knowing WHO I AM is described in one Scriptures as “wisdom, having known which nothing more here remains to be known” because qualities that flow from the Immaterial within are adequate to act/react in a way that benefit self and others. Hence this famous saying “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” (Aristotle) because wisdom manifests itself through its children such as purity, love, joy, peace, power, bliss which are loved by others as they make life soft and sweet.

#Footnote-----------------------------------------------

"Arithmos, from "hrey-" meaning to think or arrange." (Theological Dictionary, Abarim) Beast and man see the arrangement of all living beings from 1-sensed to 6-sensed, and feel this is the end of the subject, thus the most important one, the 7th Sensed-Supreme Being is not seen in the whole arrangement even when HE is the great Director behind this wonderful drama of life and great Provider of all cyclic-life-support-systems.