Can we Improve the World Through Personal Development?
Thoughts & Comments
The Core Ideas and their Consequences
This article was organized around 3 main concepts, introduced as key to deal with the challenges ahead of us:
Acting on the individual scalerather than the global scale. Then counting on the fact it will spread and end up changing the global situation.
Acting on people’s mindset/inner truth (identified as the cause) rather than the outside world (identified as a consequence).
Working with concepts taken from Personal Development
This way of thinking has interesting consequences, among which the fact external factors (technological innovation, new laws & agreements, etc.), which traditionally receive much attention, become nothing more than entertainment, food for curiosity, but without any real meaning for the future of mankind EXCEPT when they appear as a manifestation of someone’s will to contribute to the world. And so the main focus of each person and society as a whole should be on the individual’s own developmentrather than external changes.
Did You Notice?
Next time you listen to one of these great Ted Talks, pay extra attention to how much extremely competent and passionate people with groundbreaking ideas actually refer to a mindset they either had or have learned. How many talk about courage / perseverance / following a dream / knowing they’ll prevail no matter the circumstances / the need to give something back / the need to enjoy the everyday life? Those are all concepts from Personal Development.
Some people learn these concepts in books, before applying them in their life. Others learn through life and draw conclusions afterwards. Sometimes they’re introduced in fancier terms and sometimes through simpler ways, but it always boils down to the same ideas and they’re always behind any kind of success.
Limitations
The real challenge, however, is to define “Personal Development” and the related mindset it supposedly leads to and that is at the core of “feeling good”. As acknowledged in the introduction, this article is a bit clumsy, especially in how it introduces each part and connects them together (the place of Maslow’s Pyramid of the Human Needs isn’t clear for instance). Yet its biggest weakness is doubtlessly the fact it doesn’t give a proper definition of Personal Development. And doesn’t it all come down to it?
Unfortunately it proves a difficult task and I still haven’t been able to do any better… What can be said though is that Personal Development gathers ideas from religions, philosophies and scientific research. It’s a mix of attitudes and ways of thinking & acting. Some key concepts include building self-confidence, withholding judgment, not letting fear dictate our actions, following our inner truth, controlling our thoughts/meditating regularly, seeing ourselves as a part of the world and not as a meaningless and isolated fragment, among other things.
The Updated Model
Since coming up with these ideas and writing this article, I spent several years looking at new experiences and challenges with this mindset in order to test it. And so far the conclusion is that I still believe in everything I wrote. However the picture can be completed by adding that it is not necessary to reach the top of Maslow’s Pyramid to start making a difference, and that reaching inner peace is an end in itself:
We should act on the mindset as it is at the heart of everything else and the only true source of happiness – which is actually common knowledge.
We should work with concepts from Personal Development. Whoever has tried can easily tell how it can lead to inner peace and I believe its effectiveness is (at least partly) due to the fact it seems based on a deep and accurate understanding of the Human Nature – namely that human beings are positive & creative at the core and only start being destructive & negative when their judgment is cloudedby fear, doubt, insecurity, etc. So we’re not oscillating between Good & Bad or are Bad at the core and need to improve ourselves/find redemption; we’re Good but sometimes weak.
Moreover this position is backed by all the exercises aiming at soothing our thoughts (mindfulness, meditation…), since doing those helps us become calm again, have faith in the future and in our abilities, be creative, patient. It seems to imply that negative emotions (and the consequent actions) aren’t our nature but come from the wrong thoughts.
Feeling peaceful is an end in itself, which is worth remembering. What is there more to attain in this life? What’s the end purpose of all our goals if not to find peace?
Feeling peaceful also leads to the betterment of a person’s surroundings:
By removing his/her negative emotions and the destructive patterns attached to them. After all, happy & peaceful people aren’t destructive: would you feel like plotting against someone when you just become a father/mother? Would you be jealous if you were confident in your own abilities? Would you feel the need to force your views onto others when you just get that job you’ve been dreaming about for so long? And the list goes on (note how the source of happiness doesn’t need to be connected to the negative emotions in order to erase them; the moment we feel great, we let go of any negative behaviors).
By helping to fulfill the various needs identified by Maslow inhis pyramid (via the Law of Attraction – one must feel good now to attract what one wants) and thus climb slowly to the top, where comes the need to Serve (i.e. acting for something greater than oneself). From then on, any action is targeted at improving one’s surrounding and the world.
It’s difficult to find examples of actions born out of a need to Serve as the motivations behind any deed are always blurry and few people have reached this stage (and often do so for only a short time).
However a typical counter-example would be the current trend for companies to write about the great purpose they serve, which is an attempt to identify themselves as being at the top of the Pyramid and working for the betterment of the world. But in 99% of the cases they’re not there (even more true for bigger companies as the more decision makers/owners the less likely for everyone to be driven by the need to self-actualize) and it becomes obvious when great talks face challenges; the real needs they seek to fulfill then take over.
Very true also in the field of politics where it may be better to be honest about the needs one works on fulfilling (or to not mention this at all) rather than introducing something that isn’t true (yet?).
Because peaceful individuals share positive energy with their surroundings, even when they’re still working on fulfilling needs that are lower than Self-Actualization (meaning they’re working for themselves, not others).
To illustrate this I have a great example I often quote, taken from a semester spent studying in Seoul, South-Korea: once during a course, the teacher spent the entire time listing everything that was messed up with the environment because of human actions, in an effort to highlight how important it was to act and contribute to saving the planet. Big talk about Serving, solving meaningful problems, having an impact on this Earth and a goal higher than oneself.
The result? I just felt really depressed and sad because of all the negativity he spread. Did he make the world a better place that day? I strongly doubt it.
Later that same day, I headed back home and walked as usual past the nearby pizzeria owned by a man and his wife and the mother of one of the two (couldn’t figure out which one…). I had been there several times and had always been greeted warmly, on top of eating great pizza. Sometimes I’d see the three of them doing some exercise just outside the shop to enjoy the sun or get some fresh air. Anyway, I didn’t feel like cooking that day so I just came in and ordered a pizza. No big talks, no great ideas (we couldn’t even communicate given my poor mastery of the Korean language!), just a full load of positive energy, attitude and feelings.
By the time I walked out I was smiling and felt full of hope and ideas for the future. Did they make the world a better place that day? Yes, they did.
So what happened during the 20 minutes or so it took them to prepare and cook my pizza? They shared the energy coming from their inner peace: A person’s inner state impacts the world.
Perhaps even more important: A person’s inner state matters more than his/her words, ideas and actions.
And so we can improve the world through Personal Development because the world is made of people, and thus all the positive effects on the individual scale described above are bound to happen on the global scale as well.
Now what do you think dear reader? Do you agree that we should act on the individual scale rather than globally? On the mindset rather than external factors? Why (or why not)? Have you ever reached a stage of such intense happiness that you felt the need to give something back? Have you ever noticed the impact of people’s (or your own) inner state on your surroundings?