“the self expands through acts of self forgetfulness.”

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Last update July 25, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "the self expands through acts of self forgetfulness." by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 13

Hungarian American psychologist 1934

Related quotes

“(…) When we are absorbed in other things, in the not-self, we forget the self. There is nothing unnatural about it. But, why forget the self through excess of attachment? Wisdom lies in never forgetting the self as the ever-present source of both the experiencer and his experience.”

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) Indian guru

I am
Source: I am That, P.135.

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

“Whatever you do against your better knowledge is sin. (…) Remembering your self is virtue, forgetting your self is sin. (…)”

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) Indian guru

Sin and virtue
Source: "I am That." P.72.

“And this becomes a point of balance when you can forget yourself into immortality. You’re not so absorbed in self, but you are absorbed in something beyond self.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1950s, Conquering Self-centeredness (1957)
Context: I’ve seen people who discovered a great meaning in their jobs and they became so absorbed in that that they didn’t have time to become self-centered. They loved their job. And the great prayer that anyone could pray at that point is: “O God, help me to love my job as this individual loves his or hers. O God, help me to give my self to my work and to my job and to my allegiance as this individual does.” And this is the way out. And I think this is what [Ralph Waldo] Emerson meant when he said: “O, see how the masses of men worry themselves into nameless graves, while here and there, some great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality.” And this becomes a point of balance when you can forget yourself into immortality. You’re not so absorbed in self, but you are absorbed in something beyond self.