Part One: Paradigm and Principles

"There is no excellence in this world that can be separated from right living"

Author describes a bunch of common problems to do with work, relationship and finances that a lot of people are experiencing.

Self fulfilling prophecy -> Pygmalion effect.

Author notes how recent self development books have not really tackled the root cause.  However between the periods of 1776 and 1926, all the literature focused on what could be called the character ethic - "Modesty, simplicity, industry, patience, justice, courage, temperance, fidelity, humility, integrity".  The character ethic taught that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.

Interesting quote:- "Did you ever consider how ridiculous it would be to try to cram on a farm - to forget to plant in the spring, play all summer and then cram in the fall to bring in the harvest?  The farm is a natural system.  The price must be paid and the process followed. You always reap what you sow; there is no shortcut."

Author describes differences between personality ethic and character ethic.  You can use the personality ethic to get by and to make favorable impressions through charm and skill and pretending to be interested in other people's hobbies.  You can pick up quick, easy techniques that may work in short-term situations. But secondary traits alone have no permanent worth in long-term relationships.  Eventually, if there isn't deep integrity and fundamental character strength, the challenges of life will cause true motives to surface and human relationship failure will replace short-term success.

Both the character ethic and personality ethic are examples of social paradigms.  They are ways that we "see" the world - not in terms of our visual sense of sight, but in terms of perceiving understanding and interpreting.  A simple way to see paradigms is to see them as maps.  We all know "the map is not the territory".  Instead it's a theory, explanation or model of something else.

The author shows a picture of a woman that first glance seems to be young, fit, healthy and attractive. But then goes onto describe how the woman is actually very old and to look at the picture again.  It's used to describe that two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both can be right.  It's not logical; it's psychological.

Personality ethic - trying to change outward attitudes and behaviors does very little good in the long run if we fail to examine the basic paradigms from which those attitudes and behaviors flow.  This seems to be another way of saying -- get to the root cause of the issues and solve it there, rather than the symptoms of those issues.

Interesting quote:- The more aware we are of our basic paradigms, maps, or assumption, and the extent to which we have been influenced by our experience, the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, test them against reality, listen to others and be open to their perceptions, thereby getting a larger picture and a far more objective view.

The Power of a Paradigm Shift

It becomes obvious that if we want to make relatively minor changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviors.  But if we want to make significant, quantum change, we need to work on our basic paradigms.

In the words of Thoreau "For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is on striking at the root".  We can only achieve quantum improvements in our lives as we quit hacking at the leaves of attitude and behavior and get to work on the root, the paradigms from which our behaviors and attitudes flow.

Principles

Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value.  They're fundamental.  They're essentially unarguable because they are self-evident.  One way to quickly grasp the self-evident nature of principles is to simply consider the absurdity of attempting to live an effective life based on their opposites  I doubt that anyone would seriously consider unfairness, deceit, baseness, uselessness, mediocrity, or degeneration to be a solid foundation for lasting happiness and success.

The Personality Ethic:-

The glitter of the personality ethic, the massive appeal, is that there is some quick and easy way to achieve quality of life - personal effectiveness and rich, deep relationships with other people - without going through the natural process of work and growth that makes it possible.  It's sybmol without substance. It's the "get rich quick" scheme promising wealth without work".  And it might even appear to succeed - but the schemer remains.