The story begins in the dusty streets of ancient Athens, where Aristotle, the wise man with a face marked by time, relentlessly questions the citizens to unravel the mystery of the "good life." This philosophical concept is linked to the quest for happiness, personal fulfillment, and morality in life. He promotes eudaimonia.
According to him, happiness is not simply a matter of pleasure or wealth, but rather the realization of one's full potential as a human being and the development of one's virtues.
Eudaimonia is not a temporary emotional state, but a complete and fulfilled way of life that is realized over an entire existence.
Several centuries later, in Rome, the imposing marble columns of Caesar's Forum stand under a brilliant sky, while Seneca meditates on the fragility of life.
For him and his Stoic colleagues Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, a good life involves tranquility of mind, achieved by accepting the world as it is and freeing oneself from destructive passions (fear, anger, excessive desire).
For them, a good life is one of self-control and inner serenity.
Further east, in the sacred lands of ancient India, Indian sages draw from texts like the Upanishads or the Bhagavad Gita to align individuals with their dharma (the moral law to follow to maintain harmony in the universe and in one's own life, in accordance with the natural and spiritual order).
Later, thinkers like Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas remind us that self-improvement is primarily a path to the purification of the soul to please God.
For centuries, under the influence of religious currents like medieval Christian scholasticism, the quest for personal fulfillment is closely linked to divine will.
The idea is no longer to develop oneself to reach one's potential, but rather for the salvation of one's soul.
In the East and the West, man is thus only a link in a divine or cosmic order that must be respected without deviating from it.
But after the fall of Constantinople, the texts of antiquity resurface.
Thus, during the Renaissance, amidst the frescoes of Michelangelo and the writings of Erasmus, a key idea is rediscovered:
That man can improve himself, not only to fulfill a role assigned by the universe or to please God, but to achieve his full potential as a conscious and free individual.
This idea culminates during the Enlightenment under the pens of thinkers of freedom like Rousseau or Kant.
In the flickering light of the candles in their studies, they proclaim that reason and education are the ultimate tools for perfecting man, and that everyone has the duty to pursue this ambition to free themselves from the chains of ignorance.
Throughout history, many personalities have sought to unravel the mysteries of happiness and fulfillment.
But at the end of the 19th century, in the United States, in a context of rapid industrialization and urbanization, a new movement emerges: the New Thought.
At this time, people are seeking spiritual answers to cope with isolation and the new pressures of modern life.
The teachings of New Thought are based on the idea that one can achieve happiness, prosperity, and success through the sole power of our minds and positive thinking.
Sounds appealing, right?
While up until then, success and self-improvement were attributed to hard work, perseverance, and discipline, New Thought marks a departure from the emphasis on intense physical or mental effort as the only means to achieve one's goals.
At this time, America is undergoing a transformation, and the individual is increasingly valued as the master of their own destiny.
It would take the Great Depression (1929-1939) to more firmly anchor the image of modern self-development.
During this period of global economic crisis, devastated Americans seek ways to improve their personal and professional prospects in a climate of uncertainty.
It is at this time that Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Earl Nightingale, and more recently Rhonda Byrne strongly popularize positive thinking, the law of attraction, and visualization as methods of personal achievement.
We then face a media bombardment that almost permanently reinforces the fantasy of a life devoid of discomfort.
More and more miracle methods sell a life without fear, without failure, without pain, with the promise of creating instant results through the simple power of thought.
A life without suffering? Cool, right?
By making us believe in simple, easy, effortless, and immediate self-development, the initial enthusiasm gives way to the reality of our daily lives
While some people give up and blame fate for conspiring against them, others even come to believe that they are the cause of the problem.
Result: many people lose confidence in themselves or reject self-development. Others, more skeptical, are repelled from the start by an obvious lack of credibility.
While the strength of self-development had been to lower the barrier to entry and to reformulate the complex philosophical principles of Aristotle, Epicurus, Nietzsche, Jung, or Kant into a simple language that speaks to everyone...
Self-development, to which we all aspire, thus becomes synonymous with nonsense.
This transformation of self-development over the ages has consequences.
Dark consequences.
#HeroesAreEverywhere
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