Origins
Major religions, such as the Abrahamic and Indian religions, as well as New Age philosophies, have used practices such as prayer, music, dance, singing, chanting, poetry, writing,sports and martial arts. These practices have various functions, such as health or aesthetic satisfaction, but they may also link[citation needed] to "final goals" of personal development such as discovering the meaning of life or living good life (compare philosophy).
Michel Foucault describes in Care of the Self[5] the techniques of epimelia used in ancient Greece and Rome, which included dieting, exercise, sexual abstinence, contemplation, prayer and confession — some of which also became important practices within different branches of Christianity. In yoga, a discipline originating in India, possibly over 3000 years ago, personal-development techniques include meditation, rhythmic breathing, stretching and postures. Wu Shu and Tai Qi Quan utilise traditional Chinese techniques, including breathing andenergy exercises, meditation, martial arts, as well as practices linked to traditional Chinese medicine, such as dieting, massage and acupuncture. In Islam, which arose almost 1500 years ago in the Middle East, personal development techniques include ritual prayer, recitation of the Qur'an, pilgrimage, fasting and tazkiyah (purification of the soul)[citation needed].
Two individual ancient philosophers stand out as major sources[citation needed] of what has become personal development in the 21st century, representing a Western tradition and an East Asian tradition. Elsewhere anonymous founders of schools of self-development appear endemic - note the traditions of the Indian sub-continent in this regard.
[edit]South Asian traditions
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Some ancient Indians aspired to "beingness, wisdom and happiness".[6]
[edit]Aristotle and the Western tradition
The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) influenced theories[which?] of personal development in the West. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defined personal development as a category of phronesis or practical wisdom, where the practice of virtues (arête) leads to eudaimonia,[7] commonly translated as "happiness" but more accurately understood as “human flourishing” or “living well".[8] Aristotle continues to influence the Western concept of personal development to this day, particularly in the economics of human development[9] and in positive psychology.[10]
[edit]Confucius and the East Asian tradition
In Chinese tradition, Confucius (around 551 BC – 479 BC) founded an ongoing philosophy. His ideas continue to influence family values, education and management in China and much of Asia in the 21st century. In his Great Learning Confucius explicitly shows something which some[who?] might[original research?] characterize as "personal development" as the source of managing the family and the state:
The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.[11]
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