Some days ago I read that Napoleon Hill had a “council” of people he admired—in his own imagination, which he would consult while in need of guidance. He would write as if it was the actual person speaking, and by doing this he gained insights that he couldn’t get if he only debated himself.

I thought this is a great idea, so I the purpose of writing this entry is to deliberate how and who should form part of my own council. The council should be formed from people whose work and personal story I know, so that I am able to put a voice unto their archetypes. Additionally, it should be formed by individuals of different characters so that I may obtain different perspectives. Perhaps I ought to start by listing the famous people I would be able to “speak for” to some degree:

""" Goethe Muhammed Socrates Plato Lao Tse Jesus Hernán Cortés Benjamin Franklin Marcus Aurelius Dürer Wittgenstein Dostoievsky Tesla Aicher Eames Tara Brach Norman Foster Buckminster Fuller Steve Jobs Richard Feynman Carl Rogers Abraham Maslow Ken Wilber Gurdjieff Gandhi Carl Jung """

Just by writing this down I notice I have important gaps in my council, there’s too much in the receptive and mental (spirituality) and perhaps not enough in the active and the masculine. I would also like at least one woman in my council because I need a female perspective, but Tara Brach though great overlaps with a number of spiritual teachers with whom I find greater affinity. I must investigate a woman whom I admire, but I don’t know enough about in order to “speak for her soul”.

That will be Eleanor Roosevelt.

There must be someone who represents the creative principle, Goethe is a no-brainer.

Someone who represents my profession as a designer, that most definitely will be Eames, though I would like to have Aicher whispering behind his ear. I hate to leave Bucky Fuller out because he covers many other areas: philosophy, mysticism, creativity… But these bases will be covered.

There must be someone who has direct experience of God, a mystic. Lao Tse without a doubt. And someone who puts God’s will into action in the world, would that be Jesus? I’m afraid his way of the heart may be too much of a challenge for me at this time. But… I will try. Let it be Jesus.

There must be someone who represents correct mental cognition. I would narrow it down between Socrates and Feynman, and I think Socrates’ ignorance and methods of questioning are very useful to this task.

I also need an explorer, an adventurer, someone with masculine energy to speak in the matters of courage and effort. The only person on my list that has these characteristics is Cortés. He is a good fit, but I take note that I should read about Napoleon so that I am better covered in this gap, which I explore vehemently when I am free.

And I would also want someone with deep psychological insight. Who is he or she? Rogers? Maslow? Jung? Difficult choice. Rogers would just listen to others. Jung would perhaps take things off track. I think Maslow is the psychologist I am looking for, though I sense he is the one I know the least about.

And so we end with this list:

""" Eleanor Roosevelt Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Charles Eames Lao Tse Jesus Socrates Hernán Cortés Abraham Maslow """