© 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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Let's make this much less theoretical. Great men and women, long dead, can be used as positive or negative icons. Jazz musicians made legend of and iconized the great saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker even before his death at 35 in 1955. The concept and spirit of Parker energized musicians like John Coltrane, who was himself iconized after his early death in 1967. Many brilliant musicians have been energized into higher realms of creativity by these two “larger-than-life” (i.e., iconized) men, but a lot of creativity has also been stifled along the way by blind reverence of these and other greats. It happens in every field. Some take the concept of the departed genius and have a lifelong imaginary (i.e. iconised and metaphorical) conversation with that genius. Others use the genius as a standard, a paradigm, a template, the final word, a static box.

Movie actors are iconized, sports figures, politicians. Many people argue that John F. Kennedy made major mistakes during his short term as president. But no one denies his potent power as a positive icon. We are human, and no matter how good we get at mental gymnastics, we need icons and symbols to concentrate passion and meaning. How we use the concepts of Human Integration and Dynamic Balance to keep our icons positive and balanced makes all the difference. It's the difference between an Iconic Box and powerful Iconic Fuel.

Yes, it sounds trite, but if you really begin a lifelong “conversation” with a person of courage, some of that courage may seem to rub off. I write “seem” to rub off, because the courage and stamina that results inside you is in reality your own courage. Though we iconize heros, we kinetic iconizers know fundamentally that the heros expressed themselves using the same human raw materials we ourselves possess.

No American hero had been iconized more than George Washington, and yet most of that iconization is rote, automatic, static. I have a mind-set, however, in which I use George Washington as true Iconic Fuel. He's here now as I write. I consult him sparingly, so as not to abuse the privilege, but when I do have to ask his opinion my questions are demanding.

An American dollar bill, quite an icon in itself without even considering the man on it, is tacked to my bulletin board. Every time I glance at it, I am reminded not only of the qualities of George Washington I admire, but of those qualities in myself to which I aspire. Now, I don't fault people who use expensive brass eagles as visual inspiration, but, frankly, I only spent a dollar for my icon, and I can cash it in if things really get tight.

Another of our Founding Fathers who inspires Iconic Fuel in me is Thomas Paine, whose “These are the times that try men's souls,” has never failed to mitigate the frequent problem I have with dry eyes. If I get off the parkway one exit earlier on my way home, I can go past the house where he spent his last days, and often I do, so Tom Paine and I can talk. It's never one way; he always talks back, especially when I play the devil's advocate and start to challenge him. The great ones always do talk back.

Yes, it's all imaginary, but large chunks of our thought are imaginary, hypothetical, uncertain, and possibly all the more creative because of it. Imagination is our greatest human attribute. Without it we cannot create, we cannot truly love, we cannot truly communicate. Without it we are brutes. The most dynamic words, the most kinetic icons, ignite our passions and keep our insides young and free.

Exercise: Iconic Fuel

• Your own repository of Iconic Fuel could be the horse of the D.H. Lawrence quote that starts this section, my dollar bill (most economical), a work of art, a symphony, a photograph, a word, a mark on a piece of paper, a poem, a toy you had as a child, a quotation, a newspaper article, a statue, a trophy, a set of barbells—anything.

• The key is your recognition that you have an imagination and that you can use Human Integration (in general) and Dynamic Balance (in any particular instance) to vector that imagination and make it serve your needs.

• Iconic Fuel is an inner concept. Find something, latch onto it, inject it with meaning you create, and get the Cauldron bubbling. Keep working on expanding the meaning of the icon.