Is there an end to learning and self-development?

This is a question I’ve asked myself from time to time. When will it be enough? I guess it’s never. But of course, the ego wants this torture to stop at some point :P

Anyways, I got this fantastic email from Neil Strauss whom I respect so much. He’s always able to put into beautiful words the profound answers to hard questions.
Here is the email:

I decided to start the New Year with an intensive workshop.

Not teaching one – but taking one.

When I walked in, some people recognized me and were surprised:

“I just read your book The Truth. Are you here for research or something?”

And I’d respond: “No, I’m here for me.”

They’d say: “I thought you had everything figured out.”

And I’d say, “Never trust anyone who says they’re done working on themselves. When someone says that, I know they’re an amateur.”

And I joined the intensive, and dived deep into becoming a better, more joyful, more connected, more impactful person in the world.

As the workshop dove into an emotional component dealing with developmental issues from childhood, someone said:

“Do you feel like you’ve done all this childhood stuff already and are just going through the motions sometimes?”

And I said, “Not at all. There’s always a new angle on the diamond to work on.”

I explained that I’d worked on so many issues with my parents, and literally exorcised parts of my personality that were negative and that I thought I couldn’t change. But I’d never worked on the issues with my brother, who I perceived to be the favorite of my parents growing up and still to this day.

That’s a vulnerable thing to even write, but through that journey, I saw that in groups, I will often go to a place where I feel like the black sheep, like I’m not wanted, when it’s not true. And this is a remnant of feeling like that way for so long in my childhood.

Working through that opened up a space for happiness and connection inside me that I feel right now as I write this days later.

I also told another person who asked a similar question:

“Listen, everything is worthwhile. Even if I went to a workshop, and they spent three days rubbing different crystals on my body, it’s not like it’s going to make my issues worse. It could only help if I decide I want to get something out of it that helps.”

So the message is: The work of the self is never done. And so I continue to go to intensive workshops in my quest for a state of grace and perfection that I know I will never reach. It’s a thrilling race towards grace and perfection. The race is against death, and death will win– because the destination is impossible for a human to reach. But the race is always worth running. It may even be the point of living. Because every step makes you a better, more evolved person.

Every year, I make a new and deeper commitment to improving myself, and because I want 2020 to be the biggest year for you, in the next email I’m going to share my other secrets to fast-tracking personal growth and evolution. And they don’t involve rubbing crystals on your body.

Best,
Neil

P.S. Unless, that is, you’re into that sort of thing.

P.P.S. Maybe I should try a crystal healing workshop before I mock it. Any crystal healers here? Show me what you got!