© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete text of Human Action, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's philosophy of human achievement.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Human Action Table of Contents
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So bear with me. When I define a term, I really define it. Related words, Greek and Latin roots, you name it. The deeper you know the language, the greater your power. Plain mechanistic biology calls for language to be precise, direct, certain. It can never be that. So let's make it rich instead. Let's squeeze all the juice we can out of it.

The first pair of words we'll define are kinesis and stasis, polar opposites. You're probably more familiar with the adjectives kinetic and static. Kinesis comes from the Greek root word kinetikos, movable, from kinein, to move. Hence, the English word kinetic means movable or dynamic. Cinema, dealing with moving pictures, is a related word. So is excitement.

Stasis comes from the Greek histanai, to stand. The English word stand comes from the same Indo-European root. It refers to a state of equilibrium, balance or stagnancy. In medicine stasis refers to a stoppage of the flow of some fluid in the body, usually blood.

So here we oppose kinesis against stasis, motion again stoppage. A state of total stasis, total balance and equilibrium is impossible. Most modern physicists believe everything is in motion. Nevertheless, in human and practical terms, a state of total kinesis is not a useful one. We move, but we progress in steps, in increments and stages. We reconsolidate and reflect. We plan and then act.

Trans-biological kinesis refers to a constant human process. Here is the premise: each of us is born with an individuality that is uniquely human. This Kinetic Human Core is oriented toward kinesis, movement, progress, change, creation. Stasis—represented in this chapter's title by the wall metaphor—is profoundly disturbing to the kinetic human core. Stasis says, “You live, you eat, you eliminate, you reproduce, you die.” The Kinetic Human Core says, “Not me. I want more. And when I get that I want more, and when I get that I want even more.”

For convenience, and perhaps for inspiration, it serves us well to make the Kinetic Human Core synonymous with the term human “heart” in its figurative sense: the courage to be.

Let's give two extremes of this “more” before we go on.

• Pablo Picasso is not satisfied with the representational norms within which he is expected to paint. He summons his genius, breaks all rules, and creates new art and new artistic movements.

• My Aunt Harriet has time on her hands, so she drives down to the Pleasant Valley Shopping Mall, skillfully navigates through store after store, elbows out competition, digs through bins of clothing and winds up with the last pair of jeans they had on sale: a $39.95 value for only sixteen bucks.

Let's not belittle Aunt Harriet's achievement, because if we do, Picasso goes down with her. The human motivation is identical, even if the perspective might be a bit more limited in Aunt Harriet's case. (For that matter, Aunt Harriet’s love life was a lot more stable than Picasso’s.) Besides, human progress, change, and barrier-breaking is a wonder to behold at any level. And, further, don't you think Picasso had to do some mighty creative shopping to find those striped shirts you always see him wearing? Do you think they just materialized at the local mart?

Trans-Biological Kinesis calls for moving away from that stasis, or satisfaction, into an arena of discontent, dissatisfaction, movement and creative achievement that is innately human.

Trans-Biological Kinesis activates the Trans-Biological Imperative, the basis for all that wonderful creative discontent. Both Aunt Harriet and Picasso share the discontent with the walls and limitations of stasis and satisfaction. They also share other attributes. In either case, their motivation is strong. But even that's not enough. More than that, they each know and recognize their Trans-Biological Imperative. They both know that immense unhappiness will come their way unless they activate themselves to reach a state of Trans-Biological Kinesis. And they also know that their satisfaction, their stasis, will only last a short while. That Trans-Biological Imperative will make them hungry all over again.

Of course there's an irony here. Yes, we are free, and we are not truly happy unless we express that freedom. Creative outlets, ways to become more than simply highly sophisticated animals, are essential to us. But in one fundamental way we are not free. We are not free to not be free. We must act freely. We cannot escape freedom. How we handle this ultimate freedom determines how fulfilling a life we lead.

Let's do a short exercise now to bring that “must-ness” home so you carry it in your heart. Here is the premise: you must achieve, you must express your Trans-Biological Imperative, otherwise your heart dies. And to do it, we'll use your real living biological heart.

Exercise: The Key To Your Heart

• Go ahead. Take your heart out of your body. Not literally (messy), but draw a picture of your heart on an index card. Put your initials into the heart in order to personalize it. Color your heart red if you can.

• Fold the index card down the middle so you are able to make the card expand and contract and simulate the heart's beat.

• Now try to match the beat of your paper heart to the beat of your own heart. Concentrate. Project. Apply intense emotion. Apply intense thought. Understand that heart. Look at it.

• And then answer these questions: Is this heart just a mechanical pump, or is it more? Is it limited, or is it infinite? Is it easily satisfied, or does it demand greatness? Is it worth keeping, and perhaps posting on your office bulletin board, or are you going to just tear it up and throw it in the trash?