A Book Review by Bill Dahl
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly The Evolving Self – A Psychology for the Third Millenium, Harper Perennial – A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers, Copyright © 1993 By Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Don’t Delay – READ THIS BOOK TODAY! No kidding…No exaggeration…
I have a personal discipline – For every 5 books I read, one of those books MUST be at least five years old. Once again, I have been immensely blessed by this discipline.
What honestly startled me about this book, published in 1993, the unfinished business that remains to be realized is both profound and poignant. It’s simply that prescient.
The following are a few tidbit excerpts. As you read them, please consider their pertinence today:
“At this point in our history it should be possible for an individual to build a self that is not simply the outcome of biological drives and cultural habits, but a conscious, personal creation. That self will be aware of its freedom and not fear it.” P. 4.
The point is not to be browbeaten into the belief that you are powerless. It is in the interest of those who control our energy to make it seem that the status quo is natural, right, and impossible to change. It is in our interest to figure out that this is not always true. P. 105.
Having learned that boredom and worry are the norm in the family, in the school, and in the community at large, children give up curiosity, interest, the desire to explore new possibilities, and become used to passive entertainment. P.203.
Most novel ideas or behaviors are generated by people who try out new things because they are bored by old routines, or because they are confounded by chaos. P. 255.
If you’re bored by old routines and/or curious or concerned about chaos in this world, this book is for you.
One of my favorites YTD in 2011 — even though it was published in 1993.
