GOOD QUESTION!: Two Essays on Self-Understanding

by Stephen Friedlander

GOOD QUESTION! provides a new perspective on personal development and quality of life. Emphasis is given to improving self understanding and increasing our ability to organize a life that is meaningful. Changes in external conditions -- like becoming wealthy, achieving fame, or social position -- are only marginally relevant they tend to be either mere byproducts of psychological change or, in some cases, actual distractions and obstacles to internal change. The principal question is how to achieve new insight, no matter what stage of life we are in, by facing the challenge of difficult situations with self-respect and integrity. The underlying question could be expressed in other, more personal terms, such as, are we determined to aim to go “straight ahead” all the time, ignoring whatever does not fit with our preconceptions, or do we, as the French say, “reculer pour mieux sauter," an expression that means "back up in order to jump higher." How we choose to proceed determines how our life unfolds.INERTIA IS THE BARRIER TO OVERCOMEOrdinarily, human beings continue learning throughout life. Doctors follow the latest medical research, executives read about business trends and how to be a good leader, financial advisors keep up with new tax law, and engineers concentrate on the advance of technology. People also invest in their passion, delving into literature and the arts, history, science, health practices, sports, spirituality, etc. There is one glaring exception to this general principle. Many adults seem to give up on learning about themselves; they behave as though they already “graduated” from the school of self-uunderstanding, and no longer have any passion for learning about “what makes people tick”, how problems arise, and what we can do to resolve problems between people. Of course, lots of people seek advice on concrete issues in areas like marriage enrichment, child rearing, health optimization, spiritual growth, dispute resolution, and so forth, but they rarely question basic assumptions that shape their view of life.Unlike many books in the self-help genre, the challenge of quality of life is not concentrated in a single domain in this writing. This book is the first step in a long-range project to describe the full range of possibilities for self development. We tend to overlook many of these because we are blind to their existence, and to the significance of many of our fundamental assumptions about life and our own essential nature. Thus, GOOD QUESTION! introduces an extended meditation on how to expand the boundaries of the mind. The process begins, with this book, in the inner reaches of self consciousness and works systematically to incorporate broader, more complex perspectives with each successive stage by honoring the principe of open-minded inquiry at every step along the way.

37 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 12, 2014