About
Personal development. Personal growth. Self-development. The New Age. Self-help.
Some use these terms interchangeably, while others see them as describing radically different things. Although there's a less than clear understanding of exactly what personal growth is, even among its teachers and critics, one thing that's clear is that it is coming under attack.
In recent years, several books, and many articles, have been sharply critical of various facets of personal growth. Thus far, personal development's critics--to my knowledge--have largely gone unanswered.
Maybe this is because personal growth is such a vast and amorphous field, and it's difficult for any individual teacher or student to understand whether the critiques out there are aimed at them. Maybe personal growth teachers see their ideas as so widely accepted that no defense is necessary. Maybe people involved in personal growth have generally achieved so much inner peace that the critics don't bother them.
Whatever the reason, we've seen no public response to the critics as of yet, and the purpose of DevInContext (Development In Context) is to change that. I think many of the personal growth ideas and techniques out there have much to offer us, and I want to encourage people to avoid hastily dismissing them as woo-woo, flaky, or [insert your derisive term of choice].
Personal growth's opponents tend to emphasize the value of critical thinking, and say that as a culture we have been too willing to swallow personal growth ideas without examination. I agree that critical thinking is important, and I think it should be applied evenhandedly -- both to personal growth's proponents and to its critics.
What I Mean To Do (And Not Do)
Here at DevInContext, I intend to, among other things:
1. Offer a definition of personal growth to bring some clarity to this debate.
2. Challenge many of the critics' common assumptions.
3. Make a compelling case for the value of many personal growth ideas.
One thing I won't do is try to describe or defend every teacher and school of personal growth out there. That task, given the size of the field, would be impossible in one lifetime. It would also be unnecessary to a defense of personal growth ideas, generally speaking.
After all, I wouldn't have to show that, say, every philosopher in existence has had valuable ideas in order to show that philosophy, on balance, has been valuable to the world. By the same token, I don't need to prove that every single self-help book out there is valuable to argue for the value of self-help, or prove that every single self-development workshop has benefited its participants to prove the benefits of those workshops.
Thus, this blog will be more about ideas and perspectives than individual people or news stories.
About Me
My name is Chris. I am the author of Inner Productivity: A Mindful Path to Efficiency and Enjoyment in Your Work and many magazine and blog articles, and I coach people in finding productivity and satisfaction in what they do from a mindful perspective. I'm also an attorney and musician. I've spent quite a while in the field of personal growth, both as what we might call a "student" and a "teacher." If I do say so myself, I think my background puts me in an ideal position to think about and comment on these issues.
I'm looking forward to talking with you.
E-Book: Why Growth Is Good
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February 21st, 2010 - 21:30
If you don’t answer your critics, and will only talk to those in the club, this can build great authority (this was effectively the strategy of the western medical profession and the Freudians) – it’s worked a treat.
There is also the ‘everything is what you believe it to be’ line, so common in new age circles. So the critics are entitled to their perspective, which they’ve created. It is hard to see how critique could have a place in this perspective (and how it can avoid nihilism).
I think what you plan to do is very important and much needed. Wishing you every possible success.
July 4th, 2010 - 05:06
Hi Chris,
I think the topics you address in your blog are extremely important, since many “students” of personal growth choose to ignore criticisms of personal growth, when it’s healthier to consider what’s being said about personal growth, and incorporate it into our understanding of the subject, if the criticisms are valid.
I’ve gone through phases when I didn’t want to contribute to the field of personal growth because I felt like I was creating more noise, rather than contributing to the signal.
I later realized that I can understand what I don’t like about the field (e.g. bad advice, narrow-minded approach, etc), and offer an alternative. Just because there are negative traits or potential harms to personal growth doesn’t mean we have to abandon the whole thing (which many critics seem to advocate).
I look forward to many more thought-provoking articles from you!
July 6th, 2010 - 00:48
Hi Evan — somehow I didn’t see the comments here before, but in any event, perhaps it’s true that personal development didn’t need any defenders for a long time because it had no serious critics. Now that is changing, and perhaps now it could be said to “need” — or at least benefit from — serious defenders.
July 6th, 2010 - 00:50
Hi Haider — I like that point about not needing to abandon the whole project just because there are some aspects of it we might not agree with — just as we wouldn’t say that philosophy or physics is useless because there are some philosophers or physicists we disagree with.