Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Case for Self Improvement

If we are content with ourselves as we currently are, if we are content to say, "That's the way I am, and I see no need to change." then we will ultimately end up being worse than we would normally be. This video clip comes from a talk given by Viktor Frankl in Canada in 1972. He has some remarkable insights.
The example of the crosswind is very true. The standard approach taken by too many people in our society today is to aim at the middle mark. In order to do this they attempt to remove all standards and expectations of morality, the things that keep us focused on a goal that is higher than we should be, and the result it that we end up being worse (more immoral, lazy, selfish etc.) than we should be. The same people that preach that the traditional standards of morality and ethics are unnecessary or too restrictive, are, oddly enough, the same ones who express shock, horror and dismay when those who have learned from them end up acting a lot worse.

1 comment:

Serge Le Coz L'Eternel said...

Something is missing and may be this appears somewhere else, because this is strange for a specialist of suicide. In fact yes hope is important in order to progress, so to have a great aim is good as you write; but as well it is important to not look for something too high relatively to your potential, because if the deception is too high the risk of suicide increases, or of madness if you expect something irrational (what is in the Schizo family for madness).