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August 22nd, 2007 by Sean Self-Help, and Beginner’s-Mind

Lately I’ve been getting sick of self-help stuff.

When I first became interested in self-help and personal development, it seemed pretty kick ass. I bought some books, read a lot online, and watched some movies. It was great :-).

But it’s starting to wear on me. Now when I read self-help stuff, I feel annoyed. It strikes me as very arrogant.

It’s sort of a push and pull thing, I suppose. We try to become better people, and we try to figure out the reality around us. But in doing so, we eventually come to a point where we think we have things figured out. Over time, this solidifies into a world view. We lose beginner’s-mind. I don’t like that.

For those that don’t know, beginner’s-mind is the mental state we are in when we feel as though we don’t know anything about a subject. We are very open to ideas, and absorb a lot of information in this state. Zen Buddhism values beginner’s-mind, because there are no expectations, no assumptions, no false beliefs. Just emptiness, openness, and curiosity. “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”

A lot of times it feels like that people who offer advice have lost beginner’s-mind. Which is a shame, because a lot of times their advice is pretty good :-). A mini-paradox.

I guess I’m just sick of all these ideas. Too many ideas, and not enough action. Does the guru want you to succeed? The minute you walk on your own two feet is the same minute they lose a customer. I’m not sure if it’s wise to let peoples’ weaknesses drive your income.

But is it wrong to try and help people? Surely it can’t be.

The blind leading the blind? Heh :-).

We’re all blind. It’s just a question of how much an individual recognizes the blindness inherent in themselves. Hello!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 10:54 am and is filed under Personal Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

### 6 Responses to “Self-Help, and Beginner’s-Mind”

1. war1025 Says:
   August 22nd, 2007 at 11:59 am

   I read a book about buddah this weekend, sidhartha actually. And in it he goes and talks to another man who has achieved Nirvana or whatever, and he knows that this man is more at peace than any man he has ever seen. This man has many many followers, all trying to capture that same essence of what this man feels. But Sidhartha realizes that he cannot follow this man, because although everything he says is true, there is a gap between telling and knowing that you cannot cross with the help of others. These people know what they are talking about, but by telling you what they know, you will never be able to achieve that goal.

   In the book it says something like, he cannot convey to them that exact moment when everything fell into place. He cannot say what that was like or how to find it. You have to find it yourself.

   You can have all the directions in the world, but you will never get there if you refuse to take a step on your own.

   – prefaced with my traditional motto of “you don’t know half the shit you think you do.” So its probably just as wrong as everything else.

2. Fate Says:
   August 22nd, 2007 at 12:28 pm

   I believe most of us have been in at least one incident where we are absolutely certain of something, and finding out later that we were absolutely wrong. If you have ever been in such a situation, you will know that you can’t really trust your mind to be certain of anything.

   That said, I have a suggestion. Not so much an advice, because I don’t think I am qualified to advice anyone on anything. Afterall, there is bound to be someone out there who is better at something than myself. For an example, I probably can’t out chew a squirrel when it comes to nuts, no matter how superior I might think I am compared to the squirrel.

   In anycase, I was going to suggest that you might like to try (if you haven’t already) offering yourself a complete opposite opinion and viewpoint from your own everytime you think up of something. I do that myself, and I thought it’s pretty insightful sometimes when you are thinking on the opposite end, thinking from a way completely contradictory to your earlier concept. Even if it doesn’t remedy anything, it at least provides an amusing point to ponder over.

   But most importantly, I think it’s possible that you are suffering from mental fatigue. Take a break, watch some flowers, you’ll find that there’s not many cures that can compare to that when it comes to efficiency. Besides, it’s mostly free. Right now, you might just be going a little too fast. A baby is born fresh, unschooled and unknowing. In our quest to know, we have inadvertently aged ourselves and bought us one step closer to death. Afterall, only the dead can really claim to achieved all they can achieve in life.

   EDIT:

   Well said, war1025. I believe this might bear some relation with Sean’s earlier realisation that truth can only be attained by self.

   It’s interesting no matter how many times I see it. That ideas seem to be interlinked. No matter how new and fresh I thought my ideas are, there always seem to be someone out there, who either already knew of that idea, or thought of it around the same time as I did. I believe (unjustifiably, perhaps) that most of you probably got that feeling sometimes in your lives as well.

3. Isabel Says:
   August 22nd, 2007 at 2:17 pm

   /Completely off topic, to Fate: I love your style of writing

4. Hey_you Says:
   August 22nd, 2007 at 7:28 pm

   War1025 said it best.

5. keen31 Says:
   August 22nd, 2007 at 10:26 pm

   “War1025 said it best.”

   +1

6. Not_Important Says:
   August 23rd, 2007 at 6:54 am

   Carmine. Carmine (also known as E120) is a widely used pigment (red colour) in the food industry. For example, you can find it in many sorts of yogurt etc.

   Now. You may like yogurt and “E120″ certainly does not tell much. However, few people know that E120 is produced by boiling cochineals, an ugly-looking insect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal). You could be happily enjoying your yogurt right now, but the info you’ve just got may trigger a strange feeling in your gut. Maybe you’ll never buy this yogurt again?

   The point is this: sometimes knowing less keeps you happy. Sometimes the more you seek, the less happiness you’ll find.

   It’s not that I’m trying to sound like a wise-ass, but thinking back about TK I remember that ACTION, actually TRYING and DOING, is what helped us succeed, not thinking or researching or anything. Maybe the “just do it”-philosophy may help us in other issues in life just as well?

   Once again.

   ==> NI

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