Earl Nightingale.
That’s a name most people aren’t familiar with.
I can’t remember how I found him, but a couple times a year I re-listen to his tape called “The Strangest Secret”.
It’s a bit cheesy, but it always gets me fired up.
I was listening to it today and was struck by the fact that every time I listen to it, I get something different out of it.
It’s a funny phenomenon when you hear a concept but it’s not until many months later that you experience the concept and take the abstract idea and integrate it into your world view.
The genre of self-development is not new. Philosophers for thousands of years have contemplated the human experience, what it means, and how to live it fully. In fact, great religious figures like Jesus and the Buddha were, in a sense, self-development gurus because they showed people a way to a better life.
I genuinely believe throughout history many people have figured life out. But obviously they’re holding out on that knowledge otherwise more people would be enlightened right?
NO!
They’ve desperately tried explaining the path to enlightenment but their advice is just an abstraction until we live it.
Just think of that! Right now you can be told the exact path to enlightenment and never experience it.
Generation after generation of philosophers and holy men have dedicated their lives to sharing a path of happiness and contentment. But at the end of the day, they can only show us the door, it’s up to us to walk through it.