The so-called "self-help" or "self-improvement" phenomenon prevalent in Western culture and promoted in the manuresphere (such as "cultivating your inner dragon") is the dumbest, most trivial obsession one could dabble in, because of its myopic emphasis on personal qualities. If a person finds himself in the same room or general area as a bunch of violent criminals, or some other awful situation, his first priority should be to get out ASAP and permanently move to a less misery-inducing environment instead of "change your attitude", "adopt a positive mindset", "see this challenge as an opportunity to learn and grow", "improve your perseverance", "become a Stoic" or whatever other solipsistic rationales self-help hustlers tirelessly shill.
For example in China, self-improvement isn't the pathological obsession it is in the West as they are taught to resolve any personal problems using the framework of philosophical materialism, of which the most basic tenet is 物质决定意识，意识对物质具有反作用 ("consciousness is the product of physical matter but also has the capability to alter physical matter"). Accordingly, an individual's physical condition, state of mind and behaviour are predominantly affected by his immediate surroundings and other aspects of the external environment (that includes other people and society at large), then by internal biochemistry (diet, exercise), and last of all by intellectual activity (philosophy or media consumer "copes"), while he can by application of conscious effort change the nature of each factor to varying, limited extents. Only in cases of brain damage, acute poisoning, doping with psychoactive drugs or extreme diets does internal biochemistry become a more decisive factor than external environment in determining individual well-being. Philosophical copes, "forming good habits" and other allegedly beneficial mental pursuits are only potent if they inspire one to drastically improve one's environment and produce a measurable quanta of benefit, they are not virtues in themselves.
For example in China, self-improvement isn't the pathological obsession it is in the West as they are taught to resolve any personal problems using the framework of philosophical materialism, of which the most basic tenet is 物质决定意识，意识对物质具有反作用 ("consciousness is the product of physical matter but also has the capability to alter physical matter"). Accordingly, an individual's physical condition, state of mind and behaviour are predominantly affected by his immediate surroundings and other aspects of the external environment (that includes other people and society at large), then by internal biochemistry (diet, exercise), and last of all by intellectual activity (philosophy or media consumer "copes"), while he can by application of conscious effort change the nature of each factor to varying, limited extents. Only in cases of brain damage, acute poisoning, doping with psychoactive drugs or extreme diets does internal biochemistry become a more decisive factor than external environment in determining individual well-being. Philosophical copes, "forming good habits" and other allegedly beneficial mental pursuits are only potent if they inspire one to drastically improve one's environment and produce a measurable quanta of benefit, they are not virtues in themselves.
