I recently read a book that’s hard to evaluate—Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina.

At first it felt like encountering a sacred text, but the second half devolved into a patchwork of concepts, sliding increasingly toward mysticism. Let me focus on its most illuminating insights.

Three Principles: Truth, Love, Power

What’s brilliant about this book is how it synthesizes the scattered insights I gleaned from The Brothers Karamazov and * Existential Psychotherapy* into three fundamental principles: truth, love, and power. Then it combines these principles to derive all other concepts—for example: truth + love = oneness, love + power = courage.

This theoretical system is like the three primary colors of light, threading together the entire framework of personal growth.

Specifically, the principle of truthmeans continuously discovering more reality about ourselves and the external world. The principle of lovemeans choosing to establish connections. The principle of powermeans autonomously creating the world around us.

These three principles can be seen as an extreme distillation of all the wisdom from the profound books I’ve read in recent years. For instance, the truth principlecorresponds to Elder Zosima’s teaching “do not lie,” and to * Existential Psychotherapy*‘s call to face unavoidable realities like death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness. The love principleembodies the spirit of Christ, Elder Zosima’s teachings, and * Existential Psychotherapy*‘s concept of unconditional love. The power principlecorresponds to Dostoevsky’s repeated call across multiple books to “engage with life,” and to * Existential Psychotherapy*‘s emphasis on “participation.”

All existentialist philosophycan be briefly summarized as these four points:

  • Face death, live toward death;(truth)
  • Face freedom, take responsibility for yourself;(truth + power)
  • Face isolation, practice unconditional love;(love)
  • Face meaninglessness, engage with life.(love + power)

Love

Of these three principles, truthand powerare my strengths; loveis what I lack. This isn’t hard to understand. If we translate these principles into Chinese philosophical terms, truth is knowledge (知), power is action (行). We constantly invoke “unity of knowledge and action,” yet no one teaches you how to love. Actually, lovedoes have a Chinese counterpart—roughly benevolence (仁). But since Confucius, * ren* has gradually faded while * yi*(righteousness, duty) has flourished—loyalty to ruler, filial duty to father, eventually degenerating into the absurd “preserve heavenly principles, extinguish human desires.”

Yet all the highest wisdom points here. Whether it’s The Road Less Traveled, * The Brothers Karamazov*, or * Existential Psychotherapy*, all roads lead to Rome. It’s as if someone whispers in my ear: stop resisting, go and love.

The part of the book that moved me most was precisely what I lack most: love, and the oneness and couragethat derive from love combined with other principles.

One of life’s greatest joysis being able to engage in truly conscious, autonomous, high-quality exchange with others. The true meaning of relationships lies in expanding the inner self. The more I identify with myself inwardly, the more deeply I can connect with others in the external world.

The consequence of lacking the love principleis what society calls refined egoism, ultimately leading to nihilism. This is not human nature—human nature contains love. People yearn to be part of a larger whole. To deny this is wrong.

Oneness = Truth + Love

Love is consciously and autonomously choosing to connect with what your heart truly desires. Onenessis understanding this truth: connection with the world is already your natural state. The world is a vast organism, and each of us is merely a cell within it.

This captures the cultural difference I felt in Western Europe—people genuinely believe they’re part of a larger whole. They consciously contribute, and society runs on trust. Being there, you find yourself wanting to spread goodwill too.

China stands in stark contrast. Some claim its dominant ideology is nationalism. But that’s imprecise. If someone cares nothing for the nation’s concrete interests, neither respects nor trusts their compatriots, and demonstrates zero concept of collective responsibility or public virtue—how can they be a nationalist? What truly blankets China, in my view, is vast nihilism. Many harbor extreme shortsightedness and egoism, deep down believing nothing exists higher or more important than themselves. That’s nihilism. The frequent random attacks bear this out—whether the murder of Japanese children or outsiders seeking revenge in Shanghai. Many without religious background can’t grasp * The Brothers Karamazov*, but reality illuminates it. Aren’t these precisely what Ivan described—the state people enter after losing faith, where anything becomes permissible?

The path to salvation is this: you must believe there’s something higher than yourself, believe you’re part of a larger whole. The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

But does this mean every cell must be identical? No—everyone’s talents and abilities differ. As part of this great organism, to live far below your capacity is to shirk your responsibility. Your greatest contribution to the world is becoming the best version of yourself, setting an example, and teaching others to do the same.

**Everything that makes people more isolated from each other violates the principle of oneness.**The more you immerse yourself in such things, the harder it becomes to achieve a truly integrated state of being. These obstacles include: racism and sexism that divide people; work that profits by suppressing others; family-oriented values that love only a small circle, and so on.

Conclusion

Honestly, the book’s title moved me. Smart people are often misunderstood. They actually need more guidance—precisely because they have more talent and ability than most, they need someone to teach them how to use their capabilities. But few can.

Why do I detest the moral dogma of my hometown or most places in China? Because it directly denies your uniqueness. And it does so through crude, threatening means—submit or be punished.

But facts are facts; denial doesn’t help. Society’s latent hostility toward smart people is truly lamentable. The correct path is right there—not “the tallest tree catches the wind,” but “with great ability comes great responsibility.” Yet such obvious truths—you look around and can’t find a single role model. Countless people worship purposeless power. How tragic.

Engage with life, go and love, use your abilities to do good.

Note:

Why do I keep writing what seems like self-help?

Because behavioral change must begin with a shift in identity.

And I’m genuinely reshaping my identity now, striving to change.