I would be inclined to agree with this. It's funny how many famous people, when asked, say they always knew they'd reach the position they've now accomplished. A smaller example is Paul McKenna. I remember reading a Sunday Times article where he said he always KNEW he was going to be famous. As a kid, he thought this meant being the next James Bond but he found his niche as a stage hypnotist.
Right it’s possible for a person to say they had ‘no plan’ yet be super ambitious at the same time. You know something good will happen but are open to what it may specifically be
Interesting Tom - thanks! It gets me asking further questions about whether these past exceptional self-believers had exceptional belief thrust upon them or needed it through defiance etc. If they wished to have exceptional belief, then was there a particular reason for this wish to be stronger than in most others?
Thanks Simon! I think it's both. Some just had a feeling of exceptionalism from a youngish age, for no obvious reason. Their circumstances might have been very comfortable, like Churchill's. Others followed Adler's idea of 'compensation'. Perception of some lack or humiliation fires them up to be 'someone' that corrects it. They manufacture a sense that the world is on their shoulders.
This kind of motivation is amoral i.e. it can be used for dark ends. But genuine greatness always involves positive outcomes for humanity. Stalin was 'great' within Russia, and for a few decades only. We don't consider him great now. Hence my definition of success: "Truth revealed in time".
Yes Ive been thinking about different definitions of (and motivations for) success and greatness from a different angle - lets see if we end up meeting somewhere in the middle…
Thank you Tom, brilliantly summarised and thought through once again.
Love the way you progressively build upon your previous writings, and colour in the picture of 'success' further and deeper, in our modern day and life.
Truly fascinating - metaphysically, actively and principly - you get me thinking, and I am very grateful.
I would be inclined to agree with this. It's funny how many famous people, when asked, say they always knew they'd reach the position they've now accomplished. A smaller example is Paul McKenna. I remember reading a Sunday Times article where he said he always KNEW he was going to be famous. As a kid, he thought this meant being the next James Bond but he found his niche as a stage hypnotist.
Right it’s possible for a person to say they had ‘no plan’ yet be super ambitious at the same time. You know something good will happen but are open to what it may specifically be
Interesting Tom - thanks! It gets me asking further questions about whether these past exceptional self-believers had exceptional belief thrust upon them or needed it through defiance etc. If they wished to have exceptional belief, then was there a particular reason for this wish to be stronger than in most others?
Thanks Simon! I think it's both. Some just had a feeling of exceptionalism from a youngish age, for no obvious reason. Their circumstances might have been very comfortable, like Churchill's. Others followed Adler's idea of 'compensation'. Perception of some lack or humiliation fires them up to be 'someone' that corrects it. They manufacture a sense that the world is on their shoulders.
This kind of motivation is amoral i.e. it can be used for dark ends. But genuine greatness always involves positive outcomes for humanity. Stalin was 'great' within Russia, and for a few decades only. We don't consider him great now. Hence my definition of success: "Truth revealed in time".
Yes Ive been thinking about different definitions of (and motivations for) success and greatness from a different angle - lets see if we end up meeting somewhere in the middle…
Thank you Tom, brilliantly summarised and thought through once again.
Love the way you progressively build upon your previous writings, and colour in the picture of 'success' further and deeper, in our modern day and life.
Truly fascinating - metaphysically, actively and principly - you get me thinking, and I am very grateful.
Thanks Jim!
I realized no one was covering it from all angles: psychological, metaphysical, physical.
As Teilhard de Chardin said, this is an "endless area in which to expand", so I'm excited to investigate more and come back with possible answers.