Brian Johnson explores Picasso and Maslow's idea that no human is perfect, yet self-actualizers strive toward their own version of perfection. Imperfection is expected. Personal growth, trying to perfect ourselves in service to something larger, is the heroic pursuit.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last plus one we talked about Picasso and Maslow. And we also talked about my joy in connecting with our heroic masters and coaches every Single day at 1:01pm Central. Time to get your soul force to 1:01. Today I want to spend some more time with Picasso and Maslow. But first, it's true that Picasso was blessed to find work he did that he loved as much as his leisure. And he was astonishingly productive. And he was far from a perfect human being, which is perfect. Recall that Maslow has a thing or three to say about this as well. We have talked about this many, many times and I promise to keep on coming back to it again and again. Maslow tells us, and I quote, there are no perfect human beings. Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact great. There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers and movers, even if they are uncommon, do not come by the dozen. And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it. I repeat, there are no perfect human beings. And very important news flash as we discuss in conquering Perfectionism 101 and our mastery series in many other places, you and I won't be the first perfect human beings. But know this. Maslow also says that self actualizers attempt to grow to perfection and to develop more and more fully their own style. Now Picasso definitely did that. The question for today is, are you? There may not be any perfect human beings, but there are no more noble and heroic pursuits than doing our absolute best, trying to perfect ourselves in service to something bigger than ourselves.
