Personal growth: Wisdom perfection and the world of illusion February 21, 2018
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Personal Development Potential.Tags: Buddhism, inspiration, Lama Surya Das, life, personal growth program, philosophy, Prajna Paramita Sutras, Prajnaparamtia, psychology, self-actualization, writing
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Our earnest efforts at achieving self-realization notwithstanding, most of us can tend to get wound pretty tight with the daily stress quotient the world doles out, and when this happens, , we might want to remember that keeping things in perspective should be a part of our personal development programs.
Advice which is easier to give than to take.
Some philosophical and/or spiritual systems such as Buddhism use comparisons to help show us how fleeting the external world and its stressors are.
Consider the Eight Similes of Illusion from the Prajnaparamita Sutras , as cited in Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World, written by Lama Surya Das (1)
The Radiant Buddha said:
Regard the fleeting world like this:
Like stars fading and vanishing at dawn,
like bubbles on a fast-moving stream,
like morning dewdrops evaporating on blades
of grass,
like a candle flickering in a strong wind,
echoes, mirages, and phantoms, hallucinations,
and like a dream
A note from Wikipedia
“The word prajnaparamita combines the Sanskrit words prajna “wisdom” with paramita” perfection”. Prajnaparamita is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and is generally associated with the doctrine of emptiness (Shunyata) or ‘lack of Svabhava’ (essence) and the works of Nagarjuna. Its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva path.”
(1) Published by Broadway Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, New York, 1997
—Dennis Mellersh
Personal growth: New thinking on the use of “willpower” February 20, 2018
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Goal Setting and Realization.Tags: achieving goals, effectiveness of willpower, inspiration, life, personal growth program, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, self-awareness, vox.com, writing
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If you have tried unsuccessfully to use willpower to achieve different goals in your self-actualization program, the fault may not lie in your inability to use willpower, but rather, it may be that the concept of willpower is actually an ineffective way to make progress with your goals.
An interesting and detailed article on vox.com cites a number of recent research studies which indicate that reliance on willpower alone can actually be counter-productive in our personal development efforts.
Commenting on a study in which Blair Saunders, a University of Dundee psychologist, was the lead author, the Vox article, written by Brian Resnick, states:
“In a specific situation, sure, you can muster willpower to save yourself from falling back into a bad habit. But relying on willpower alone to accomplish goals ‘is almost like relying on the emergency brake when you are driving your car,’ Saunders says. ‘You should focus on things that drive you toward your goals rather than stopping things that are in your way.’ What’s more, the human “emergency brake” that is willpower is bound to fail in some instances, causing you to crash.
The article concludes:
“Focusing on failures of willpower leads to shame, both public and private, and holds back our curiosity from finding and enacting solutions that actually work.”
Here’s a link to the complete article:
Personal Development Ideas 