Personal development: Self-directed personal growth December 26, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Personal Development Potential.Tags: books, Eric Hoffer, inspiration, psychology, self-actualization, self-improvement, Truth Imagined, writing
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Is it possible that in order to think more originally about our own personal development goals and our efforts towards self-actualization, that we should rely less on outside authorities and their recommendations and instead venture out on an individual path of self-discovery?
At one point in his intellectual growth, philosopher and social thinker Eric Hoffer said that he came to the “unpleasant discovery” that he would never be an original thinker, particularly in his writing, as long as he relied too heavily on the pronouncements of others.
“I realized that I would probably avoid hard thinking if I always had someone by my side (1) who knew the answers. I was not, in that case, a natural thinker. It was an unpleasant discovery,” (2)
Hoffer remedied this by using the material written by others more as a source or foundation upon which he would draw, through reflection, his own conclusions, theories, and generalizations.
Perhaps, to realize our potential in our own personal growth efforts, we might try doing the same – continue absorbing what the experts have written, but spend more time reflecting on our own interpretations of the points they make and subsequently making our self-improvement efforts more self-directed.
(1) “…someone by my side…” in this case means the books that Hoffer read throughout his life-long self-education process
(2) From Hoffer’s autobiographical book, Truth Imagined
— Dennis Mellersh
Personal development: The need to implement what we learn December 24, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Personal Development Potential.Tags: Arnold Toynbee, books, creativity, inspiration, life, psychology, self-actualization, setting goals, writing
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The eminent historian Arnold Toynbee warns obliquely that, for most of us, it is important to convert the knowledge we are gaining, into action; otherwise we are doomed to be constantly frustrated.
In Toynbee’s case, he found he was becoming frustrated in the world of academia by constantly acquiring more and more knowledge for its own sake. His irritation ended when he realized that by using his knowledge for the writing of history, he could be more creative and productive.
Similarly, in our efforts towards personal growth and self-actualization we tend to acquire a lot of knowledge, theory, and opinions, but if we do not put that knowledge and information into practice, it does us little good.
Toynbee found that when he applied the action of writing to his knowledge of history it enabled him to be more focused and selective about what future knowledge he chose to acquire.
Toynbee wrote, “Instead of going on acquiring knowledge ad infinitum, I had started to do something with the knowledge I already possessed, and this active use of knowledge gave direction, for the future, to my acquisition of knowledge.”(1)
(1) Arnold Toynbee, from his memoir, Experiences. Toynbee is best known for his ten volume work, A Study of History.
— Dennis Mellersh
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