“I say to myself: from now on, my life no longer belongs to me. I must put all my strength at the service of the great event. When the war is over, and if I am still alive, then I will be able to devote myself to my personal concerns again”
Edith Stein
Wikipedia definition: Personal development is a heterogeneous set of practices, belonging to various schools of thought, which aim to improve self-knowledge, enhance talents and potential, improve quality of life, and achieve one’s aspirations and dreams. However, personal development is not a kind of psychotherapy and results from multiple influences.
Impersonal development: according to the philosopher Julia De Funès, personal development can be seen as an imposture that seeks to reduce the individual to a set of techniques and methods, rather than allowing them to develop in an authentic and personal way through what she calls (im)personal development.
Personal development is based on what the being considers good and right for him. It aims for an evolution based on precise criteria of exteriority (well-being, money, desires, etc.). The ego designates the representation and the awareness that one has of oneself. Personal development focuses on the personality, on the ego.
Impersonal development goes beyond the personality. It does not suppress, it is not depersonalization. Impersonalizing implies approaching the personality as a source of information. It is important, but the difference lies in the implication: not taking things personally, but being able to live and observe them.
In personal development, everything has to do with us. Our life belongs to us, we are the creators of our reality. In impersonal development, nothing has to do with us. Our life does not belong to us, reality is created through us.
In personal development, the stronger the experience, the stronger the implication of the personality. In impersonal development, the more intense the experience, the more important the information, the more potentially powerful the teaching.
Personal development is the psychic level. Impersonal development is the spiritual level.
Personal development focuses on the personality and psychological dynamics. Impersonal development goes beyond the personality: relationships become mirrors revealing the energies at play, life becomes a teaching intended to make us aware of ourselves.
In personal development, everything is self-centered, life radiates from each of us. Free will lies in the way we drive our intentions and actions to optimize success and bend reality according to our will. In impersonal development, reality becomes fractal: everything is just reflections. Life expresses itself through us. Free will lies in the way we live and become aware of our reality, whether we transform it into a path of liberation, evolution and self-knowledge, or not.
To become awakened is to move from the personal to the impersonal.