Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work

Today I've finished reading this book:
Stealing fire

This book considers the Zone. It's the state of Flow as the best phases of human performance.

It displays how the giants in industry, business and sport can deliberately enter this state of creativity and mindfulness.

Personally, I find the book very interesting and informative.

I agree with some areas in it and disagree with others.

What I agree with it is the idea of entering the Zone through natural ways such as mindfulness, concentration and sports.

Also by changing your state between being alert and relaxed, playfulness and seriousness.

But I also find it a little bit adopting the idea of entering this Zone using non usual chemicals and drugs. And that's what I don't agree with because it's not halal in my Islamic religion and it's also harmful to the mind and body.

I also don't agree with the idea of practicing some physical actions that seem natural in action but might have unnatural, harmful or dangerous effects on the mind and body. Those actions like hearing hallucinating sounds or watching mind altering animations.

Also there are many extreme athletes that seem like addicting to their practitioners. They may be very dangerous and they know it but they cannot stop it.

Finally, I believe that everyone of us has his own type of addiction that can get him into the Zone of peak performance and altered state of mind.

This addiction might be useful and might be harmful, valuable or a waste of time, legal or illegal, but this action is simply our way of getting out of ourselves. That's what the book calls 'Shutting down the self'.

When we find this action we keep practicing it exactly as people are addicted to drugs.

what keeps productive and creative people apart from the rest of us is that their addictive actions take them far beyond the production and creativity of normal people.

While they are driven by those compulsive addictions that in this case useful, they keep their spirits in high states and they are also productive and creative to the society.

I like the book in general and I find it influenced by books from the author who coined the term 'Flow' - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

That's why I've decided to start reading the second book from the positive psychology author 'Creativity'.

By reading books from this author and from others, I've found that since my early days I've been passionate about what I lately knew as positive psychology.

It's the branch of psychology that deals with people to make them lead a happy, meaningful life and flourish.

I hope I could get you to the point.