Are we doing self improvement wrong? Steve March

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ธ.ค. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 76

  • @jordanthornton
    @jordanthornton 2 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    I'm a full-time coach who specialises in trauma healing, and it's a pleasure to hear Steve sharing his professional development story from 10:23 onwards.
    Full-spectrum therapy is revolutionary, but it's hard to find because it requires coaches to be aware of the many interwoven elements of an individual's interior depths in addition to their many ways of experiencing the world. We all have different degrees of physicality, emotionality and imaginal capacity - and it's important to be aware of these factors during coaching.
    Multi-modality integration work is very exciting, and something which Ken Wilber has written about before. I appreciate this type of conversation, thank you!

  • @ArtemZen
    @ArtemZen 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Just hosted Steve on my channel the other week. Integral thinker with a powerful framework 🙏

  • @mcohen1966
    @mcohen1966 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    I can say from almost 2 decades experience that Steve is a brilliant and compassionate man. We met in 2001 at an Integral conference and Steve has been an close friend and important teacher since. I admire his intellectual curiosity, pragmatism, embodiment and ability to integrate so many teachings into a coherent meta-teaching (Altheia) that supports unfolding one's life in an organic way. He's been quite a blessing in my life.

  • @rememberingme983
    @rememberingme983 2 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    There is nothing to improve. The only reason we feel not enough is because we were told that through so many means in a society that cares only for how it can advantage from us. The letting go of ideas of not being enough is not even an activity, it is the inactivity of not identifying with such ideas. Don't concern yourself with improvement, self-image, confidence, even outcome. Just naturally move with your inspiration, use your imagination to place yourself where you wish to be, and be that in the world without compromise.

    • @Mart-Bro
      @Mart-Bro 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      overly Eastern naivety imo sorry. Goodness needs to be built and expanded, not just discovered

    • @rememberingme983
      @rememberingme983 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@Mart-Bro The building and expansion proceeds effortlessly once ideas of the need for self-improvement cease to be entertained.

    • @czowiekpierwotny2160
      @czowiekpierwotny2160 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@Mart-Bro It's not Eastern, it's like new age woo woo.

    • @Mart-Bro
      @Mart-Bro 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@rememberingme983 if that was right then depressed nihilistic blackpill people would be the most productive and enlightened in society. There's something wrong with your theory

    • @rememberingme983
      @rememberingme983 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@Mart-Bro Thanks for sharing your thoughts Martin. I appreciate it.
      Referring to depressed nihilistic blackpill people provides a good example. Their problem is not a lack of self-improvement. Their problem is a set of beliefs that define them as somehow unworthy. Whether you see yourself as a lifeform emergent of evolution or as a part of a god's creation, either way, how could you see yourself as unworthy?
      What I am saying is that if you don't believe in your self-perpetuated justifications for inactivity, then you will find yourself in the same position as a toddler who proceeds to stand up and fall over repeatedly, though ultimately is assured of learning to walk. Toddlers don't think they are in need of improvement. They simply develop as a matter of course.
      Unfiltered inspiration leads to unfettered acivity in the world, and thus provides meaning.
      Of course, there are those suffering trauma who struggle to process and thus let go of the memories of past negative experiences. Though here I am addressing those who watch this channel''s content and have a personal history free of trauma. Dare I say this appears to be many of this channel's followers.

  • @claudiadommaschk6206
    @claudiadommaschk6206 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    We can only be as intimate with Life as we can be with ourselves and leaning into the Mystery, listening deeply for what we are called to do and then respond wisely will be necessary for navigating the turbulent currents of the Meaning Crisis. What a fitting conclusion to the Rebel Wisdom project! Thank you, David, Ali, and the entire Rebel Wisdom team.

  • @davidabheeru2012
    @davidabheeru2012 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Steve is a great guy and a brilliant thinker and practitioner. I'm happy to see his work receive a wider audience. He also hits a mean tennis ball.

  • @martingifford5415
    @martingifford5415 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Critiquing self-improvement is good. But why do we need to replace it with "unfoldment"? Acorns naturally grow into oak trees. Why are humans any different? Why do humans need Steve March's intervention? He says, "Everything [in the modern world] is pulling us away from ourselves, everything is fragmenting us." But why is that happening? Dig deeper. Turning the focus away from the world and back onto the individual just maintains the problem. Everyone wants a quick fix that avoids facing the real problem. The real problem is that we were born into a deluded social world.

  • @marksmit8112
    @marksmit8112 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Self improvement to better have more skills, knowledge. Great

  • @carlt570
    @carlt570 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wonderful. Thank you .

  • @themysteriouscow
    @themysteriouscow 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I think that this philosophy describes a way of being that has spontaneously developed within me over the past couple of years. I’d really like to delve deeper and I’m considering the course in October

  • @paulexander
    @paulexander 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I can only give one thumbs up, which is not enough to reflect how enthusiastic I feel about this video.

  • @karinkoppensteiner55
    @karinkoppensteiner55 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Sounds very good - specially for me as a long time practitioner of Vajrayana. Thank you for this short introduction.

  • @nova4005
    @nova4005 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Nice interview. I see a spectrum between spiritualized therapy or spiritualized coaching on one hand, where therapy is used to contact the building blocks of experience; consciousness, presence, space, absence, love, etc. Versus spiritual paths like the diamond approach that use psychodynamic principles, but who's orientation, methodology and way of practicing supports the dissolution of the personality, the dissolution of who we take ourselves to be.

  • @sidiehla
    @sidiehla 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting! Steve's approach is very much how I work with my Zen students: Accepting who they are and creating the conditions for unfolding their true nature. I am glad this is coming into main stream.

    • @gunterappoldt3037
      @gunterappoldt3037 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      What should this true nature be?

    • @sidiehla
      @sidiehla 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@gunterappoldt3037 Yes, it's tricky to talk about "one's true nature", because it does not really "exist". It can be understood as beyond a permanent self, oneness with the network of conditioned arising.

    • @gunterappoldt3037
      @gunterappoldt3037 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@sidiehla Sounds a bit like Brad Warner, paraphrased: "There is no true nature, but it´s always with you." Buddhist philosophy and psychology in many respects seem quite odd to me, to be honest. Buddhist modernists use to style Buddhism as "science of consciousness", but I am still not convinced. This also applies to the current neo-religious movements, especially when they head towards "re-enchantment".

  • @nichobee
    @nichobee ปีที่แล้ว

    I've peaked down the self help rabbit hole and I think it creates more problems than solutions.
    The problem with self help is that its 'practitioners' are doing it because they've compared themselves to more successful and well adjusted peers and think they're coming up short.
    But the vast majority of these pedestalled peers have probably never touched a self help book. They just know what their strengths are and do the best with what they've got. Meanwhile you have struggling men thinking they need to read, highlight and underline Marcus Aurelius' Meditations 100 times to get themselves back on track. As they said in the video, it wears you down and distracts you from being present.
    I think self help is useful for a little life tinkering, to augment some things, but it's not going to help you become confident and well adjusted in the long run, because it makes life seem far more complicated and formidable than it should be.

  • @NotReallyAEvilMorty
    @NotReallyAEvilMorty 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    There are some inherent problems with self-improvement
    1) False knowledge - you think you know, but you don't have the experience - so there is no real wisdom.
    2) Lack of individuality - It's often scientific, but science in most cases are mean averages of what works for the general population. The wisdom from books might not reflect your personal situation
    3) Repetitive - The principles presented are often recycled in new modern formats, but the core is typically the same.
    As with everything in life, the main thing is to take action - rather than blaming your ability to not take action on some external factor

  • @JeremyNathanielAkers
    @JeremyNathanielAkers 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    08:15 that move from enact or explain to explore is fucking clutch

  • @garrettdyess1110
    @garrettdyess1110 ปีที่แล้ว

    You should ask Tori Olds to come on. Lots of carryover with your guest on this video, and she is a wonderful person. Check out her TH-cam videos.

  • @carlosjb2002
    @carlosjb2002 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    The 'self-improvement industry' has a potentially highly damaging effect on people that are often dissatisfied with who they are and it helps perpetuate that feeling. It isn't any different from any other industry, using emotions and feelings to target their customers. I agree with most of what Steve is saying. At the same time I am skeptical about some of Steve's comments as this video seems more of an advertisement than an open, honest discussion. I think it's both, therefore my doubts.

  • @timmyhiggins5220
    @timmyhiggins5220 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Hi David. Not sure if you read the comments but here goes. In the context of self improvement and scam artists. I was having trouble attracting women, when I researched Johnny cassell, a dating coach. I signed up for his 7 day program for 5 grand. Such a waste of money. When I told him later that is was bs, he told me it's like a university course where you aren't guaranteed a job after.

  • @matthewheadland7307
    @matthewheadland7307 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    fluid flow

  • @psychedelatry
    @psychedelatry 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I like that he doesn't use the word "Enlightenment". While what he teaches, "self-unfolding", is what used to be meant by that word, which now has so much baggage as to be exactly useless.

    • @MarcLaurens1
      @MarcLaurens1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I guess after a time new words are necessary to escape the problem you describe.

    • @nova4005
      @nova4005 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I see a spectrum of spiritualized therapy, where is therapy is used to contact the building blocks of experience; consciousness, presence, space, absence, love etc. Versus spiritual paths that use psychodynamic principles, but have a methodology and way of practicing where ego death, or layers of ego death is possible. The latter is where the word enlightenment applies, although different words can be used. It refers to the personality that we take ourselves to be dissolving.

  • @jgarciajr82
    @jgarciajr82 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    The acorn analogy has to be enlightenment then. 🙏❤️

  • @gunterappoldt3037
    @gunterappoldt3037 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Some critical remarks, if I may:
    The holistic paradigm seems to strike again, plus some Golden Age nostalgy. Sounds, in many respects, a lot like New-New-Age syncretism, which, however, is not everyone´s cup of tea.
    Does it really work? There seems much soteriological pathos to it, -- one more "golden cloud", as critics may say, -- while the problem of "theodizee" seemingly more or less becomes neglected, or, at best, reduced to some "minor technical problems". This "fading out" is, to be more correct, at least often the case in "shop window"-representations. These, however, should, i.m.o., in some shape or form be complemented by some "shadow work", that is, by also (maybe in another feature) thematizing, e.g., the "hidden agenda" of an often even violent anti-ego-rethoric (or even "brain-washing"), which easily leads into "leader cults", as, e.g., critical historical studies could show -- but that would be another, special topic.
    To be honest, this neo-religous approach seems to me to be rather a part of the problem than of the solution (or "new wine in old wine-skins").
    Now, what seems to be the problem? The current "world system" is in crisis (as all systems are now and then). The question is, beforehand: How do we define or diagnose it? Approaches obviously, in synopsis, differ greatly. However, i.m.o., there seems not only to be a crisis of "aleanated consciousness", although it may significantly contribute to collective feelings of "crisis". Some people see t h i s "crisis (of mankind)", e.g., as a result (1) of (post-/trans-)modern "nihilism" in the sense of F. Nietzsche, or (2) the "obliviousness of Being" (´Seinsvergessenheit´), creating the "rack" (´Gestell´), in the sense of M. Heidegger, or (3) (already in the 1920ies) the "deluge of the occident" á la O. Spengler, or (4) the growing sense of existence being "absurd (theatre)" of some existentialists ... the list is long, indeed.
    Now, which "clouds" would be nearer to the "veritas essendi" of "Dasein": the golden ones, the black ones, the light ones, the dark ones, the grey ones? There may be some "truth" (again: Definitions vary!) to be found in all of them.
    Well, the sociologist Max Weber advocated "value-free research", which does not mean, that values cannot be thematized, but rather, that they should be "bracketed" (by the "witness"). That would be his "regulating idea" in the field of methodology. Sounds reasonable to me.

  •  2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Yes

  • @rudihansen5353
    @rudihansen5353 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    let go of your ego,your story and see if there is anything that needs improvement!!you can improve your ego,your self don`t need any improvement!

  • @annawray2220
    @annawray2220 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    In the Orthodox tradition mankind is loved by God and made in his image yet in a fallen state, completeness comes in the form of ‘Theosis’, which is a gradual change into being more like Christ. Since modernity crushed this, we’ve just been trying to do exactly the same thing but in different more muddled language.

    • @ransbarger
      @ransbarger 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Why does the language matter?

    • @annawray2220
      @annawray2220 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@ransbarger we may as well just stick with the original, it's way better and clearer.

    • @M-i-k-a-e-l
      @M-i-k-a-e-l 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@annawray2220 Orthodoxy doesn´t offer a complete map or understanding of the human psychology nor metaphysics. It has its flaws and corrupt parts, side by side with lots of wisdom.

    • @zorba3693
      @zorba3693 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Mika . proverbs 25:2

    • @ransbarger
      @ransbarger 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@annawray2220 Original?

  • @danielcoyle7740
    @danielcoyle7740 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Is "self improvement", personal growth work etc the problem and not the answer? Is this the main contribution to narcissism and the contemporary strain of suffering? Have commitments that require sacrifice not self awareness. Endeavor to improve the world around you rather than yourself? Do we still think that therapy, self care, healing work etc is not, ironically, a symptom of everything that is wrong? How long will this nonsense persist?

  • @integralmark
    @integralmark 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    integral refugees... exactly

  • @clintnorton4322
    @clintnorton4322 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Sad that he's leading people down the path to nonduality. That's just as limiting as objectifying everything.

    • @landphilspecter
      @landphilspecter 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      How is nonduelism limiting?

    • @clintnorton4322
      @clintnorton4322 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@landphilspecter
      There's too much to cover for this kind of space but I'll try.
      When compared to the material perspective, the experience that is commonly interpreted as nonduality has the appearance of being limitless. And that's understandable given the accepted narrative of the restrictions of time and space, social and experiencial constructs, etc.
      Most versions of nonduality ultimately reduce the material world to illusion, that what we perceive as reality is just some version of god playing chess with itself. One mind imagining a really elaborate story. Now, while imagination is a great canvas for creativity, it's not very shareable. And every creation story the world over has the scenario that other entities were formed to be companions of "god". So what does this have to do with nonduality? Ultimately, the limitation of being nondual is that there's nothing to do. There's no one to share with, no relationships. Without physicality there's no canvas to paint on to show others. You're stuck in your own imagination, showing yourself your latest creation, which only exists as imagination.
      So consider this alternative.
      What appears as nonduality is an overwhelming experience in one or both of two ways. Either you have discovered your direct connections to everything in the universe and have no reference point to adequately distinguish yourSelf from from the connections, Or, you have entered a state of deep empathic resonance with a vastly more aware entity and the sensory overload prevents you from distinguishing between yourSelf and that entity. In either case, or a combination of them, you have the sensation of "I am that", a misinterpretation of the experience.

    • @landphilspecter
      @landphilspecter 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@clintnorton4322 Interesting, thank you for the explanation. I have fundamentally different understandings about the nature of nonduelism, so I do see it as a limitless model.

    • @clintnorton4322
      @clintnorton4322 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@landphilspecter
      Was your "understanding" guided by the influence of ancient teachings? If so then your interpretation has been biased by someone else's perception and is limited by that. I'm just offering a different, possibly more true perspective, and encourage you to explore other possibilities, even the outlandish ones. Maybe by finding enough partial truths about consciousness we can eventually know what it really is.

    • @landphilspecter
      @landphilspecter 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@clintnorton4322 No. I've studied ancient teachings, religions, etc. only as a matter of academic interest. What do believe consciousness is?

  • @larsjorgan7964
    @larsjorgan7964 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Maybe the reason you want to get better is the reason why you aren`t?

  • @victoriaives393
    @victoriaives393 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow - Rebel Wisdom are basically doing pitches for people's retreats now? This is confusing - do they really not realise that for the most part those insights have been part of psychotherapy since the 60s? For example, and this is really their key message - the potential for self actualisation, popularised by Rogers is nothing new. I almost prefer to think they do realise but are just cynical

    • @HansenFT
      @HansenFT 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      IFS (internal family systems) which he seems to teach, before meditation/spiritual practice, IS a form of evidence based psychotherapy. So.. meditation is also evidence based. Not everyone, not even close, get self-actualized through talk therapy. IFS has many glowing testimonials, many of them from people who tried more conventional psychotherapy. Educate yourself before you speak

  • @abcabc9893
    @abcabc9893 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Coaching with fluffy words. Ho hum. Coaching company executives, same old corporate swag. Integral Theory was interesting 25 years ago, but dry as a biscuit. It's only got worse since then....As if real integration, real insight, real growth can be downloaded to the corporate hungry hoards for their needy needs in their rigid adhering world's. Try earning it by virtue of virtue of emergence via confluence of contributory harmonics, which is how it occurs. Fkn coaches. Snake oil then, snake oil now, snake oil for ever. Let them eat biscuits. The ones we've packaged and sold to them with.shiny logos on the tin. Oh look logos looks like logos, wow, that must be a sign!! Ker ching.

    • @themelodyriver
      @themelodyriver ปีที่แล้ว

      Wow, you took time to write such a sick comment, you must be really sick! good luck

  • @GreatUnwashedMass
    @GreatUnwashedMass 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    If you are watching self help vids on TH-cam then probably