Comments on: The Paint-By-Numbers Guide to Your Creative Self-Actualization

By: essay help

essay help — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:31:47 +0000

I knew exactly what you were talking about. I really dislike bullshit internet marketers, especially the ones who, like you say, infuse positivity and self-righteousness in what seem like purely selfish actions without ever looking at the deeper symptoms of the problems they're trying to solve or the repercussions of how they are going about business.

By: Duff McDuffee

Duff McDuffee — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:00:18 +0000

Thanks, Sumi. I do genuinely appreciate your suggestion that meeting one's deep existential needs could be easy.

By: Sumi

Sumi — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:43:40 +0000

I can see that Duff:) One part of me is just like that! I can relate. I like your articles! It's like having a conversation with that part of me. I don't meet that one often among people. They're all trying to silence it I guess but you express it so beautifully and honestly! Carry on!:)

By: Duff McDuffee

Duff McDuffee — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:32:12 +0000

You do make a good point there Sumi, and I agree that in some moments existential problems can dissolve when one is absorbed into contemplation of cosmic beauty, of the meaningfulness in the ordinary.

That said, the process of confronting one's nonexistence is not all roses and kisses, at least for some of us!

By: Sumi

Sumi — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:32:54 +0000

The typo's funny:) But Duff, I have a question. How do you know that the existential problems cannot be solved with simple solutions? What if they are not profound at all? What if they are just like other needs. When you are hungry, you get some food, when you feel existential anxiety, you watch the stars and say to yourself: "There is so much that we don't know!" And what's music for, and dance and the arts? What are kisses for? Perhaps staring into the void for too long can indeed make your soul starve. Because meaning is the food for your soul. And philosophy is a soul detox:) Love, Sumi

By: Walter

Walter — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:33:36 +0000

If there's one thing I don't understand about the propensities of human, it it our longing to escape from the difficulties of living. We have classified everything according to its positiveness and negativeness. One thing I learn about life is that I should not stifle my understanding with my limited knowing. Life is a learning process, resisting what we perceived as a contradiction with our beliefs only serves to keep us ignorant.
My recent post 5 lies you should never fall for

By: Chris Edgar

Chris Edgar — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:37:01 +0000

What comes up for me is that personal development would serve us better if it acknowledged the uniqueness of each member of its audience. Because everyone's mind and body is different, we all ultimately need to discover for ourselves which practices will give us what we're looking for. At its best, I think, personal development can give us tools for recognizing the patterns of thinking and feeling happening outside our awareness, to give us more choice around how we act in the world.

For example, I don't think it's very helpful to just tell everyone "if you're 'feeling bad,' jump up and down and say 'yeah'!" For many people, I think, that kind of one-size-fits-all practice just alienates them further from themselves. I get the sense that we'd be better served by practices that help us become more intimate and familiar with what "feeling bad" means for us — noticing where we feel tense, heavy, and so on. In my experience when we become with a sensation like that (whatever it is for each of us), the label "bad" can fall away.

By: ellen

ellen — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:28:26 +0000

I didn't pick up on your point about not wanting to be a physicist, essentially not wanting to be someone other than you already are, from your piece.
And I see your point about not recreating the wheel, but then my view of Einstein is of a man with an obssession, following his nose wherever it lead him–(no value judgements on obssessions from this obssessive) and I doubt he ever considered 'being creative' or 'contributing to humanity in a unique and special way' until he became a lauded and famous physicist.
He could just as easily have been overlooked and languished in obscurity-would his life have been less satisfying to him had that been the case?
What I find absurd is the notion that a pre-emptive vision of the goal, 'being creative' or 'contributing to humanity' will accomplish much. The pre-emptive vision kills creativity stone dead. The goal of 'build a better water pump' or 'build a better vacuum cleaner' invoves creativity but creativity is itself not the goal.

By: Duff McDuffee

Duff McDuffee — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 04:22:48 +0000

Certainly one could model Einstein's creative process and apply to other domains and thus be creative similar to Einstein. (Robert Dilts did just that in his book Strategies of Genius vol 2 in fact.) Not only could this be a uniquely creative act but also a useful one.

My point was that I didn't want to be a physicist, nor necessarily think like Einstein. What inspired me was that he did something creative that added to human knowledge by following a line of inquiry that was uniquely interesting to him. In that way, yes one could "copy Einstein's creativity" and have it be a unique, authentic expression. But it is very important to differentiate this from re-creating the wheel (or general and special relativity in this case) and fooling yourself into thinking you are being creative and contributing to humanity in a uniquely special way.

And yes, I've found Camus and other "negative thinkers" profoundly uplifting as well.

By: Duff McDuffee

Duff McDuffee — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 04:18:51 +0000

Great example, Frank. I have to admit I too was suckered by the get-enlightened-quick promises of Hollow-Sink that matched my own greed.

(p.s. I deleted a duplicate of your comment, in case you were wondering where it went.)