It's an industry. As you say, you are a sucker. It's called 'self-help', and so I, or whoever, am going to help you to help yourself. I'm here to help, for a price, but if you are not helped, then it is because you didn't help yourself, not because my help was useless.

Suckers are greedy, and their greed is what is used to exploit them, Typically, self-help suckers are greedy for power; they feel small and want to be big, unimportant and they want to be important, ugly and they want to be beautiful, unknown and they want to be famous, ordinary and they want to be exceptional.

Of course it is impossible - most people have to be ordinary. But you will not be told this, when you are being sold the seven habits of exceptional people, or the five vital affirmations (aka magic spells) of the wealthy, or whatever this week's scam is.

The other problem with self-help, apart from the scammer, is that the person who is helping the sucker is the sucker. So if your problem is, for example, that you are a fat slob, then the person who is supposed to help you become slim and fit you is a fat slob. While the scammer is flattering you, you may not notice this, but it will become apparent sooner or later; it's the nature of self-help.

Most of the problems people have are either trivial or insoluble. If you want to stop smoking, there is nothing easier; no one is forcing you to smoke. The difficulty is "motivation" - but this translates into , 'actually you want to smoke'. You want to smoke more than you want to stop smoking, and so you want help not to do what you want to do. It should be called self-hinderance, not self-help.

Life is not a game of football, and there are no goals. I wonder what you want? I wonder why you look in a book or to someone else for answers? Perhaps you don't really want anything much; this is called in the trade 'contentment'. It is something hated by scammers and power addicts because it makes you invulnerable to their manipulations.

Sorry for the lack of response, you didn’t “reply” to me so it didn’t show up in my inbox.

Anyways, haha yup I agree with the first point being that “Self-Help” can sometimes be a being marketing scam. All the self-help gurus out there to help you make millions. Haha guess that’s part of society, when there’s a market for such bs there’ll be people who exploit it.

Overall I can sense a strong hatred for Self-Help coming from you. I do agree that life it not so simple that the secrets can be compressed into a single book, but there’s some benefits or worth in reading such books. Cheers!

Well not hatred particularly, and of course there is helpful advice out there. "don't eat the yellow snow.' I exaggerated for entertainment. but there is a philosophical problem with self help that the helper has the same problem at the one to be helped. Have you tried other-help at all? You know counselling, psycho-analysis, a loving partner. I think relationships have more potential for transformation.

I’ve basically tried to psycho-analyse myself, and started wondering if I was just rationalising my own actions lol.

but there is a philosophical problem with self help that the helper has the same problem at the one to be helped. — unenlightened

Can you elaborate on this point, I don’t quite understand.

Sure. If you wonder if you are rationalising your actions, and you decide you are not, you have to wonder whether you are just rationalising in your decision. and if you decide you are rationalising then you cannot trust that result either.

Two psychologists meet in town.
A. Hello, how am I?
B You're fine. How am I?

A feeble joke, but it illustrates that introspection (examining oneself) is a form of alienation (dividing oneself) in this case the wonderer separates himself from the rationaliser. But of course this only happens in the imagination. The sad truth is that the wonderer is rationalising in the very act of examination. Gosh that sound very complicated, but it isn't really. One has divided into the observer and the observed. but one cannot do this; actually they are the same thing.

It is as though one were to look in the mirror, and try to work out what one was thinking from the expression on one's face. Try it some time, you might be good at it. But you might do better to use a friend instead of a mirror.

One has divided into the observer and the observed. but one cannot do this; actually they are the same thing. — unenlightened

Haha not quite sure on this so please correct me, is it buddhism (or maybe other philosophy) that encouraged you to view your actions from a third person view and not to judge yourself.

It is as though one were to look in the mirror, and try to work out what one was thinking from the expression on one's face. Try it some time, you might be good at it. — unenlightened

Sounds similar to reflections and journaling your thoughts, after which you ponder on what you’ve said and done. Both gives you the self reflection that allows you to understand yourself better.

Two psychologists meet in town.
A. Hello, how am I?
B You're fine. How am I? — unenlightened

Pardon my lack of knowledge but I don’t quite this joke, from what I understand about psychologist, they always ask their patient questions about themselves.

Sure. If you wonder if you are rationalising your actions, and you decide you are not, you have to wonder whether you are just rationalising in your decision. and if you decide you are rationalising then you cannot trust that result either. — unenlightened

It’s somewhat hard to determine that really, because you somewhat could lie to yourself and say you’re not rationalising, so a better way would be to get help from another party like a psychiatrist. Then again, what they perceive may not align with your thoughts so in the sense we may be in this never ending cycle of delusion of one’s ideas. Or maybe it’s me just trying to make stuff more complex than it has to me. Haha maybe I’m just a little crazy with my ideas, we’ll never know for sure lol.

Self help might start with simple obvious things. It might end there too. Get a lot of exercise. Eat a healthy diet. Get a good night's sleep. A bit of meditation, yoga and massage can go a long way. Invest time in your friends and family. Make some charitable contribution to society.

The vast majority of self help book readers will ignore such obvious suggestions. And that's useful because then they know what the problem is. They aren't serious.