For example, if I pinch your arm really hard, are you going to have to think to know you're alive? Or is it equally valid to say "I feel, therefore I am?" Similarly, Aristotle (384-322), in creating the taxonomy of animal species, said, “Man is the rational animal.” Personally, I think Aristotle had it backward. To put it into more historical perspectives, René DesCartes's (1596-1650) conjecture that "Cogito Ergo Sum,” translated as "I think, therefore I am," was, in my opinion, only half right. Assisting them to incorporate the legitimacy of their feelings allows them to become more fully a human being. Patients whose rationality rules their lives frequently make decisions that ignore giving credence to their emotions. Assisting them to evaluate their situations by using their rational mind allows them to acknowledge their feelings, yet make rational decisions that have a better chance of succeeding. Patients whose emotions rule their lives frequently make decisions that are not in their best interest. Much of my 34 year career as a psychologist has focused on assisting patients to find a balance between their emotional and their rational minds. I found section 5 in section 6 to be a most useful exploration of the topics of the creative (emotional) mind and the cognitive (rational) mind. Section 1, "Discover Your Calling" suggests everyone has a unique gift to offer the world, details how Leonardo da Vinci found his, and follows it with the "keys to mastery," and strategies for finding your life's task.Įach succeeding section uses the same outline, e.g., what you need to master a part of your life, how a master did it, and strategies to emulate toward your own mastery. In essence, this book is a roadmap for the common person to explore himself, or herself, and to look deeply into the lives of such masters as: Leonardo da Vinci, Alfred Einstein, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Buckminster Fuller, Benjamin Franklin, Martha Graham, Charles Darwin, Henry Ford, John Keats, Michael Faraday, Frank Lloyd Wright, Carl Jung, Glenn Gould, William Harvey, Richard Wagner, Marcel Proust, Wilbur and Orville Wright, among others, for lessons learned and mistakes to avoid.Įach of the six main sections of the book utilized the same structure: the topic, followed by a brief biography of acknowledged masters, and a discussion of the "Keys to Mastery." The reader is advised that it is a mistake to consider this to be a book of pithy sayings and homilies. The three sections in the Introduction, "The Ultimate Power The Evolution of Mastery and The Keys to Mastery" cogently outline the direction the author intends to take us. Seldom have I had the pleasure of finding and reading such an insightful book. But what this book lacks in clarity it makes up for in its stories and persistent encouragement the inspiration that is essential for anybody who strives to live a full, mastered life. And 48 steps are a little much for even the mastery-oriented mind, and Greene's presentation is disjointed and occasionally confusing. Relatively few of these examples are contemporary, which poses the question of whether such mastery is possible in our current economic and profit-driven environment. The steps are interspersed with the stories of people who have famously achieved success: the Wright Brothers, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Mozart, Temple Grandin, and many more. Greene outlines the process in nearly 50 steps, with several overarching themes: retaining a child's sense of wonder, learning from other masters, and avoiding financially motivated goals. His description of mastery is reminiscent of what positive psychologists describe as "flow": a state that feels effortless once achieved. We are born masters but sometimes, especially during the trials of adulthood, we need external guidance to reach our potential, says bestselling author Greene (The 48 Laws of Power).
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