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Book Review- Why Good People Make Bad Choices by Charles Lawrence Allen, MSW |
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| Published by Amazon.com | | November, 2007 |
| The Philosopher's Review on "Why Good People Make Bad Choices: How You Can Develop Peace of Mind through Integrity" by Charles Lawrence Allen
Do you believe that you are a "good" person who sometimes makes a "bad" choice? If so, this book may be for you. But hold on to your hat; there are several things you should know before you dive into this two hundred and sixty page self-help tour de force. First, it's a tough read. Second, it requires motivation and persistence. Third, it can change your life--for the better.
The hypothesis and structure of this book hinge on a negative premise: You have a problem, and its name is "Ego." According to Charles Lawrence Allen, the Ego is "a fundamental aspect of who you are" (5) but has an agenda which may or may not coincide with the choices that `you' would actually like to make-- choices that would allow you to develop integrity and peace of mind. Your Ego wants to survive. Your Ego wishes to minimize pain. It likes to maximize gratification. It also thrives on power and control. Hence, the latter two thirds of Allen's book outline the "The Solution," "The Method," and "The Choice" for overcoming the Ego's agenda. In short, this entails creating and following a consciously created belief system. Bear in mind: The belief system ought to be consciously created from your own consciousness, not from other peoples' or culture. You develop integrity when you begin to act consistently in Your Own Best Interest (YOBI). Some chapters offer follow-up exercises; others do not. I successfully changed my behavior by completing, reviewing, and repeating the follow-up exercises.
Philosophically speaking, Allen's book relies on a distinctly modern understanding of the human self and personal identity. While our primitive, ancient, and medieval counterparts identified with the entire cosmos; the early modern era ushered in the masterful, rational, subjective, individual self and corresponding worldview of the Cosmos as a medley of contingencies. This austere perspective discounts the world as a locus of meaning and appropriates the identification and creation of meaning and identity to the individual subject instead. The result of modern subjectivity is the perception of a self that possesses unbounded and unlimited freedom. Consequently, Allen's book is highly evocative and reminiscent of certain aspects of John Locke's theories. Locke viewed the self as a self-defining subject, and his philosophy emphasized control, self-discipline, freedom, and responsibility. Allen's views on personal identity might also align with Locke's; more information on how Allen views memory--in relation to personal identity--is required for such a comparative analysis, since Locke stressed the importance of memory in his own theories.
I view Allen's book as one of the most unique and effective contributions to the self-help genre. It is not for the faint of heart, vocabulary, or reading skills. His view and personification of the Ego interest me, more so than Freud's. Freud and Allen both successfully personify the Ego, but Allen's personification is much more humanistic than Freud's mechanistic analysis. Use caution with Allen's Ego, however, since the persistent monitoring of the Ego and its agenda, as well as the consistent effort to live from a consciously created belief system, rather than the Ego's agenda, may liken your everyday life to a metaphysical battlefield. Conversely, this monitoring is yet another hallmark of our modern culture--a point well addressed by the late philosopher Michel Foucault. If you do want to change your behavior and make better choices, try this book.
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