Hi there Uniquesoul,
Just to say, I disagree with what you say, well partially anyway. I know this is your scientific brain at work, and that part I can agree with. There are laws of nature (or laws of science, or whatever we want to call them). However those are mere limitations of the mind, just as Napoleon Hill says.
Why? Well, we all agree that human beings cannot fly (well not yet anyway). However humans have always had a dream of flying. In the 1700's someone (can't remember who) managed to glide by imitating birds and creating artificial wings - a kind of flying. The Wright brothers went a step further and added power, they took humans flying a step further. We have since flown into space. Thus by expanding our definition of flight, we can now claim humans can fly. At this point in time, to suggest that humans can't fly is merely nitpicking about what definition of flying we use. It is semantics, not laws of science we are talking about.
We can apply the same logic to growing a few inches taller. Wear high heels for example (more feasible if you are female in our society - but see that is just another example of a societal limitation, not a law). Psychologically there is another way to grow a few inches taller - grow your self esteem, feel taller, grow up, take your rightful space.
In the end it is all an argument of semantics, wordology, if you prefer. We make the definitions, and some of us get stuck because we believe our mental definitions. Others, the creative ones, try to expand the definition, to get beyond the limitation. The choice is ours. Just as Napoleon Hill says, "There are no limitations, just those in our minds."
Regarding 'realistic targets', Uniquesoul, I believe this is just another mental boundary or limitation. Who decides what is realistic and what isn't? Listen to Jack Canfield's wonderful story of the Australian farmer or some kind of hill-billy who ran faster and further and thus won the race because he didn't "know" he should rest at night.
Regarding realistic targets, there is no hard and fast rule. No scientific law if you prefer. For some of us who live within very narrow parameters (boundaries / limitations) our scope to set high targets is small. For people like Canfield, Richard Branson, Edison and those who have the mental faculties to push beyond 'normal' human limits, then the rewards are HUGE. This is what ES is all about. The Big Leap, ditto. It is about knocking those fictitious 'laws / limits' and playing in the field of make-believe (absolute creativity where no laws hold) and finding what lies beyond.
A final point, Uniquesoul. I too believe in science and psychology is my metier. My passion is research. Hence I believe in the value of disciplined research as a means for furthering knowledge. However the dream of every researcher is to test those boundaries, to find new patterns of data, to take our understanding from where it is not just one step further. Thus science, too, has a focus on determining a limitation, understanding how it works, and then seeing what happens when we move beyond it: finding the next boundary.
There are physical limitations, which we can overcome via technology. This is the case of flying. None of us can do it unaided as nature has created us terrestrial animals. Leonardo da Vinci created wings to be fitted to human for them to fly. I am sure you can glide down with them, but I doubt you can use them to move up sharply like birds can.
We can swim, but we can't dive deeply like dolphins and staying under water with them. This is why we need to keep to realistic goals or use a scale like MTO (minimum, target, outrageous). There are an infinite number of goals we can set for ourselves to create a great and fulfilling life. The main point is creating the appropriate action. Jack recommends it ES and so do many other today as the gurus of the past did too (like Napoleon Hill).
You can test lots of emotional boundaries and this is the point of The Big Leap, which explores the topic in a very fascinating and apt way. Gay helps us to understand why we fall from grace, how to avoid it and what to do when it happens.
