Many have attempted to answer the above questions, some successfully, though the answers are often buried in allegory, dense prose, ritual.  The Picture of Man is a modern, simple presentation, which you are invited to examine and put to the test yourself.

(Don't let the apparent complexity of the diagram intimidate you - it's really simple when you know what it means.  The Introduction section below contains video and images that explain the diagram step-by-step.  For further investigation, check out the Study section.)  

There is nothing presented here requiring "belief," and we ask you NOT TO BELIEVE A WORD OF IT, rather use the information as hypothesis.  It is all easy to check out, and if you do, and if the information is seen to work, it is yours.  If not, trash it.

The Picture of Man may be the simplest and most valuable tool for self-knowing that you will ever come across. Its simplicity is deceiving, though. If you really use it — meaning keep it in mind all day, watch others and yourself as much as possible in its terms — you find it’s not merely a little diagram, but like a living organism that develops and even evolves as you do. It can’t be overemphasized how foolish it would be to think because you “know” its four parts or can draw it from memory, that it can be put aside for more “advanced” material. Using the Picture of Man on a continual basis will provide all the advanced material one could ever truly want.