I so relate to the metaphor of self-knowledge (and self-acceptance) being like an onion full of layers, new arrivals and departures, the process of peeling back a layer only to discover another. For me the path of knowing and recovery and discovery is a spiritual path.

St. Francis of Assisi would pray “Who are you, my most dear God, and who am I?” Sometimes I think about this mystery that is my life, how just when I've gotten to the bottom of some aspect of who I am, another layer peels away and reveals a new and deeper mystery—and what appeared to be the bottom now appears to be bottomless.

It can be confusing or discouraging to continue moving back and forth between knowing and not knowing, but maybe this tension will always exist. Helen Luke writes: “Wholeness is born of acceptance of the conflict of human and divine in the individual psyche.”

When I read this, I feel a sense of relief that the tension/conflict is to be expected. A sense of acceptance. And more onion layers, more peeling, more mystery.