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Personal growth literature and the timeless quality of human nature July 1, 2018

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal growth.
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Sometimes when, through a period of time, we have delved into a lot of personal development and self-actualization materials, including very old commentary, it may seem that there is really nothing new in much of it.

And the reason is likely that individuals, the people such material is written about and directed to, do not change, even over countless centuries.

As Erich Hoffer writes:

“It is the individual only who is timeless. Societies, cultures, and civilizations, past and present, are often incomprehensible to outsiders, but the individual’s hungers, anxieties, dreams and preoccupations have remained unchanged through millennia…

“…If in some manner the voice of an individual reaches us from the remotest distance of time, it is a timeless voice speaking about ourselves.”

It is the individual, rather than any particular society as a whole that is “nearest to our understanding; so near that even the interval of millennia cannot weaken our feeling of kinship,” Hoffer observes. (1)

Historical examples are numerous: ancient philosophical texts, such as the writings of Roman and Greek philosophers, playwrights, and poets; centuries old religious tracts; wall paintings in the tombs of ancient Egypt.

(1) Eric Hoffer, Reflections on the Human Condition, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1973

Dennis Mellersh

Personal growth: Trying to recreate the past July 1, 2018

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Living in the Now.
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One of the reasons why some of us tend to have trouble living in the Now, in day-tight compartments, is that we frequently spend a lot of energy in attempts to recreate our past, usually in a quest to re-enjoy an emotionally rewarding short- or long-term experience.

But are such efforts doomed to failure?

The short answer is, probably yes.

Sometimes we can have a strong flash of recollected emotion, which might have been triggered by hearing some music, smelling a particular aroma, or being in a place with lighting or atmosphere similar to that of an enjoyable past experience.

There are many more things that can trigger such emotional responses.

And the triggers are nearly always unplanned, unexpected.

And, these are brief emotional events that cannot be either artificially invoked or sustained.

Most of the time, particular emotionally rewarding situations are comprised of a unique combination of circumstances which very rarely, if ever, can be duplicated.

But we keep trying.

Better to fondly and appreciatively recollect our past experiences and the associated emotions, but to concentrate our actions and energy on the present and towards the future, creating new and rewarding experiences.

Unlike our futile efforts to recreate the past, we can create our future.

Dennis Mellersh