For self development addicts.

Is it all just natural growth?

April 19th, by Attila Borcsa in Conscious living, Self development, 12 Comments

We all like happy endings. It is comforting to picture for ourselves that eventually everything will turn into something good. There is nothing more human than keeping our hopes alive. In every field of our lives. We, ourselves are always is a process of growing into something more promising then where we are right now. Aren’t we?

1. Personal development is a need.

Is a sign of health. Health in mind, health in soul, or in psyche if you prefer. As hunger is a sign of health for your body, the urge for personal development is the sign of a healthy personality.

When talking of personal development, my take is that this is a natural growth. Personal development is all about filling up natural patterns. These patterns are there with us starting from biological ones, to social needs and demands.

Usually personal development advices tend to say that the goal of personal development is health, wealth, happiness. I don’t disagree (much). But I think these are side effects. Because this trio of human aspirations is a very generalized formulation. Regarding health, that is the less confusing. But where is the limit where one can say that is wealthy? How about happiness? Is it lasting or fluctuating in your life?

Besides one formula I gave in a previous post, I suggest another one now (as the goal of personal development). Maturity. In this context is similar with developing a soul.

“A soul is but the last bubble of a long fermentation in the world.” George Santayana

Maturity is the result of a process. It manifests in time in each of uses lives. For some of us sooner, for others later. I am deliberately not saying that for some of us never. Because this process is there in every human being’s life. The difference is how advanced it got, at the moment.

2. Spiritual development is a choice.

It is entirely a voluntary decision. It is not necessarily part of a natural growth. It is more like an unnatural act. Going against the flow.

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Comments on "Is it all just natural growth?":

  1. kulcsi says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 9:25 am

    You say soul is somehow a limes, “a product” of personal development. That means not everybody has it, but only a few people who has developed it. Interesting point of view! If you say so, i think you might have a really specific answer to such philosophical dilemmas as
    - do we have something substantially different than our phisical body?, or
    - can we say that our psyché is nothing more than an epiphenomena of our nervous system?

    I tend to believe that soul can be perceived as a non-physical substance and as a physical phenomena in the same time. The only question is what is the system of reference we are using…
    What do U think?

  2. teodora says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 10:41 am

    Drinking coffee is a sign of health and wisdom, a development in someone’s taste. It’s all about filling up… the cup. Usually they say it’s about caffeine, a strong taste and warmth but I think these are side effects. I think I miss some arguments from the above manifesto :)

  3. Attila Borcsa says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 10:46 am

    kulcsi, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

    I admit it, usually I am avoiding reductionism. In my belief, it doesn’t help much. Good for informational purposes, it won’t hurt to understand it at that level. Not very productive though in self development.

    There are 2 different approaches to the subject, in the way I see it:
    1. the one that considers the human being as it is,
    2. the second one considering it as what it can become.

    I go with the second one. What I call “the soul” is a state of being. Is a transformed human being in all of its individual and personal qualities. This is why I am using the term “maturity” to denote this state.
    So, developing a soul means, in this context, reaching the fullest potential of maturity.

    You see, I don’t care much if the soul has a substance or not. But I do care of it as a potential that can be reached. Another interesting discussion could be on the existence of a framework to achieve this. What do you think?

    I would be delighted to hear your arguments on the subject, as I see, you are approaching it quite differently.

  4. Balázs says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 10:47 am

    Define maturity!
    How can one know or think or say that he reached maturity? What is maturity? If I say or think or feel about myself that I’ve reached that, then I am a smug (not a mature feature).

    Good point, that man is always developing himself, is always trying to get one step further in personal development. The urge for this is a builtin feature :)

    Have one question though: isn’t this getting to disillusionment at one point? When you’re pursuing an almost untouchable goal, a goal that cannot be defined precisely, that is likely, isn’t it?

  5. Attila Borcsa says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 10:57 am

    teodora, I actually think that you’ve got the point. Very expressive!

    Of course, when I want to drink a coffee, I can be motivated by various things, like the sensual pleasure through its taste, the promise of its refreshing effect etc. But what actually happens is that the cup is getting filled up. And the coffee beans had a long journey ’till got there…

  6. Attila Borcsa says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 11:15 am

    Welcome Balázs! Thanks for your comment! Another Hungarian to chat with in English :)

    It is very difficult to define maturity. You have a good point there. My approach here is mainly on the existential side.
    When I try to define it, I always have the impression that there is something more to it. And I tend to believe that it will stay like this. I don’t think there is actually a point where you can say: “Now I am mature.” You are perfectly right on this too.
    Nonetheless, when you think/feel that you have achieved something, it won’t turn you into a smug to admit that. In fact I think it will help in maintaining a healthy self-confidence. It is a bug (sic!) in our Christian-Judaic-Roman inheritance that self confidence is wrong, or God’forbid a sin.

    Right, there is a difference between the types of goals you are after. It is very difficult to approach maturity in this way. It is more like a pattern you could fill up, but I think it might not be impossible to set it as a goal too. I guess we disagree on this. ;)

  7. Balázs says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 11:35 am

    Because you cannot visualize the goal to reach maturity, you should convert it into something else.
    In this quest of reaching maturity, you have to decompose the main goal into smaller, defineable goals or fillable patterns. In other words, small steps.
    How about defining those?
    After all, physical, touchable things, thoughts, feelings are moving us forward.

    Small things matter.

  8. Attila Borcsa says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 12:44 pm

    It depends on what thing is small ;)

    Agree, many aspects move us forward. I am just saying that there must be clearly defined the major goal. Because the framework for your personal development must not lack safety and guidance. This can be considered as an axis. And then you can build it all up in small steps, around it.

    Why I think this is essential? Because we are talking self development. Development on yourself by yourself. Not an easy task. So, it means that you rarely have an outer point of support. You’ll need an inner one. This is why I propose ‘developing a soul’ or ‘reaching maturity’ as an axis for the unfolding of personal development.

    It is completely different when it comes to spiritual development. [irony]That’s much more difficult to tinker.[/irony]

    But how would you define smaller steps? I am curious about what do you actually mean by them.

  9. Balázs says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 5:42 pm

    You say that the major goal must be clearly defined. How??? What is the major goal? I cannot see this major goal clearly. You talk about developing a soul or reaching maturity as a major goal, but can you define it clearly?
    Or just maybe, reaching this goal results among other things in
    the ability to define it, to see it clearly?

    Definiton: a small step is a little piece of knowledge about yourself, that helps understand a little piece of you. Add a lot of those small things up and you will get a decent definition about yourself. But you will miss the central axis I think, the framework which contains the pieces of this puzzle. Imagine a puzzle of 1000 pieces with having no big picture of it. That can be depressing. That is what I ment when I talked about disillusionment a few comments ago. So, I am confused.

    My opinion is that finding out those small things moves you forward, but it takes much more (I don’t know what though :) ) to get to master or just to understand the framework you’re built upon.

  10. Attila Borcsa says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 8:08 pm

    Until now, I was talking about an existential pattern that shows a need. That is getting filled up by personal development. If you look at what I posted, you will see this clearly.

    Also, I stated that I can not give a definition for maturity. It might be an eventual result of the inner transformation through your personal development effort, if you like. And I am aware that there is more to it.

    It is as difficult to define it as understanding a symbol. There are numerous interpretations, each grasping it from a particular sign. The point is that this characteristic is telling us about its nature. It is the meeting point of personal and spiritual, finite and infinite. Like Alice stepping through the Looking-glass into another world. And much more analogies are available.

    In time, I will try and give a possible framework to achieve this state, according to the Vertegram manifesto. So, I will get to some details according to how I perceive this process. Please be patient on that.

    Regarding your example with the puzzle, quite visual. I understand your point. This is why I am saying that at first, we need to see the possible path or framework from a broader view. At first, try and grasp the possibilities, see the potential, see what’s available. Then, as you say, figure out the smaller steps. The big picture is available, maybe we are not even there yet to recognize it.

  11. kulcsi says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

    Balázs: I think the puzzle-like approach is not really effective.. Of course there are many small steps that has to be done in course of personal development. But if we are talking about conscious effort, we have to admit the neccesity of major goals! Without conscious effort there is no real development. Defining lifegoals is one of the most important steps that has to be done in “course of personal development.

  12. Law of Attraction|Breathing Prosperity |Cross the Wealth Gap Today! » Blog Archive » Personal Development Carnival 04/29/07 Edition says:
    April 29th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

    [...] into something more promising than where we are right now - find out more as Attila Borcsa presents Is it all just natural growth? posted at [...]

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