The Neothink Society · Psychology and Self-Leadership · July 2009
A life turns the day a person stops asking permission to live by their own nature. Emy's story is a small record of that turn: a creator beginning to arrange her world around what she was built to make. The Society recognizes the pattern, because self-led men and women across 140+ countries live it.
Emy tells it in her own words.
I sat down at a table in the gallery and read over the contract. It appeared in order, so I signed it. Meghan made me a copy and then hurried off to the printer. Meanwhile, Paul showed me around Blooming Bud. The community hugged the bank of a small stream, and the walkway jutted out over the cliff in several places. Most of the stores were taken by artists of various disciplines. At the end of the row of shops, right next to the Glassworks, sat an empty pottery studio. A small courtyard lay beside it, a perfect place for my kiln. The shop's view looked out over the creek and the meadow. I imagined my equipment back behind the protecting rail and my handiwork lining the shelves.
The day at Blooming Bud ended, and I drove home carrying the picture of it. When I arrived, I was greeted by my orange tom cat, Simon, and the answering machine flashing five messages. I believe in putting the most important things first, so I went into the kitchen and opened a can of Tuna Surprise, Simon's favorite. He curled around my arm and purred as I emptied the bowl.
"You know, Simon, I had the most amazing day. I didn't go to work. I went someplace wonderful instead. It reminded me of my childhood. My folks are artists, and they always have creative people around them. And there I was, in an entire town of people like that. I also met this really kind man. His name is Paul. He introduced me to an art dealer, I think she's his girlfriend, and she wants to represent me. I'm thrilled. Paul showed me all around town. They have art studios with connecting lofts for apartments. I saw a vacant studio next to Paul's place. I had such a good day. I wish we could move there."
Simon listened while he ate, then jumped off the table. Since I had lost my audience, I went to check my messages. I pushed play. In the background a woman was giggling, then Richard's voice broke in. "Emy, I tried to reach you at the office today. Grace said you were out sick. I wanted to tell you that Jennifer and I are coming over Saturday afternoon to measure the windows for new drapes."
"Don't forget about all that junk of hers in the shed," Jennifer chimed in. "I want that space for my garden equipment."
"Um, yes, Emy. If you can't find a place to take all that, maybe put it into storage. There are several places in town."
"Maybe she could sell it for salvage." Jennifer giggled again. Then the line went dead.
Two futures sat in that room by evening. One was a studio over a creek, a dealer who wanted her work, a place built for what she creates. The other was a voice on a machine treating her belongings as junk to clear out. A creator who builds her life around her own capacity grows into it.
The Standard A self-led life is arranged around what a person creates, not around the approval of people who do not value it.
The Diminishment Staying where one's work is treated as junk shrinks a creator to the size of the people clearing out the shed.
A self-led life is arranged around what a person creates, not around the approval of people who do not value it.
The Neothink Society is a private worldwide society where self-led men and women use the Neothink mind to build lives of prosperity, love, happiness, creation, health, productivity, value creation, and self-leadership. They do it without asking anyone's permission to value their own work.
Common Questions
What does value creation mean in self-leadership? Value creation is the act of producing something real with your own capacity, the way Emy makes work that a dealer wants to represent. Self-leadership treats that creation as the center a life is built around, rather than a hobby fitted into the margins of someone else's plans.
Why is staying where you are not valued a form of diminishment? When the people closest to a creator treat the work as junk to clear out, remaining there trains them to accept that measure. The cost is lost opportunity and the slow shrinking of a creator into the size of the space others are willing to grant.
What does it mean to align a life with your own creative nature? It means arranging your surroundings, your work, and your relationships around what you were built to make, the way Emy pictures her kiln and shelves in the studio over the creek. The life stops being something you fit yourself into and becomes something built from your own capacity outward.
How is self-leadership different from chasing approval? Chasing approval makes other people's reactions the standard, so the creator waits for permission to value their own work. Self-leadership makes reality and one's own capacity the standard. The self-led individual does not ask whether the work is allowed. They build, and the results follow.
What is the mechanism that makes building around your own capacity compound? A creator who arranges life around what she makes practices that capacity daily, and the practice grows the capacity. A creator who suppresses it to keep the peace lets it atrophy. The direction chosen at a moment like Emy's sets which of those two curves a life follows.
What does this connect to in the Neothink Society? The Society is where self-led men and women across 140 countries apply this standard in ordinary life: in work, prosperity, love, and creation. Emy's turn is the small, personal version of the pattern the Society recognizes and lives.
Further Reading
- Self-Leadership. Building a life from your own judgment and capacity rather than the approval of others.
- Value Creation. Producing real value with your own mind as the center a life is arranged around.
- The Neothink Mind. The way of using the mind that lets a person see reality directly and act on it.
- A Life in Harmony. Freedom from guilt, sacrifice, and dependence on authorities outside the individual.
- Love and Relationships. Building bonds with people who value what you create rather than diminish it.
Membership is by application.