Challenges- Arnold Toynbee quote

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Challenges


Civilizations, I believe, come to birth and proceed to grow by successfully responding to successive challenges. They break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them which they fail to meet.
Arnold Toynbee 1889-1975

Let me tell you how I came across this quote. This morning the word “challenge” came to my thinking. It’s a familiar word, but I’ve learned to dig deeper when I assume I know what a word means.

challenge n : a call or summons to engage in any contest, as of skill, strength, etc.
                     difficulty in a job or undertaking that is stimulating to one engaged in it
                     to have a claim to, invite, arouse, stimulate
                     to question, dispute, inquire, search out
Webster’s Dictionary

I wondered if anyone had written about this subject and that’s when I ran across Arnold Toynbee. Toynbee was a prolific historian, researcher and philosopher of history who analyzed 26 civilizations to write the 12 volume A Study in History.

His observation seemed particularly hopeful because it holds promise for navigating problems facing the world today. It gives a sense that solutions are possible as long as societies rise to meet challenges through inquiry, searching, and creative problem solving. Of course, civilizations are made up of people, so while this quote specifically addresses a macroscopic view, it can easily be applied to the individual.

Whether we challenge ourselves with a new project or an entirely new activity, we are summoning ourselves to a contest with ourselves. We call forth all our skill sets to meet a specific problem and demonstrate what we have learned from previous experience. Then we “proceed to grow.” That’s the goal, and the opportunities to do this are endless! Could there be anything more exciting?  

We may have varying degrees of success with each challenge, but that’s just an evaluation of the product, not the growth. Weighed against the possibility of not growing because we don’t challenge ourselves, taking a chance on trying something new is well worth the risk. Keep it in perspective. Even if our efforts “flop”, they have far less consequences than efforts that effect the rise and fall of civilizations. 
😉

Note: When doing research on Arnold Toynbee, I googled the last name, which sent me down another path. I thought I’d share it with you; you know I like a good mystery.   
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toynbee_tiles

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