For all the pain and suffering the financial crisis is inflicting, the philosophical among us say there is a plus side - a happier, richer side.
Australian cartoonist, philosopher, poet and artist Michael Leunig says the economic death, which people around the world are grieving, will awaken a humbling, spiritual truth.
Leunig, who was declared a national living treasure in 1999, says when the going gets tough people are forced to change and act creatively.
"People discover things about themselves ... it's brilliant," he said.
"Out of economic hardship can come change - we are suddenly cast onto our wits and our talents and our resources and our strengths, as we lose all the choices we once had.
"For many people ... they'll look back and think 'thank God for the downturn, I got out of this appalling career I didn't like and I found something'."
Mr Leunig says the potential for human growth is, undoubtedly, the richer side of the financial crisis.
"There will be all sorts of happy things that will come out of this," he said.
"There will be some astonishing changes, which will be redemptive for many people.
"You wouldn't wish hardship on anyone, but when it comes, you would be crazy not to see the huge growth that will come from it."
Breaking open
Mr Leunig says a sharp blow to the ego is what enables people to find wisdom in their struggles.
"Our hopes and all our ambitions are suddenly broken or lost to us and this is just the dynamic of the human psyche - that when the ego breaks, well, something else emerges through that," he said.
"That can be very painful for people initially, but it is also the source of some truth that they haven't been able to access in that more prosperous kind of life.
"People in their suffering often access things otherwise hidden to them."
Mr Leunig says the crisis may also prompt people to look outside themselves for growth assistance.
"People always need help and sometimes they're not able to create their own spiritual response without it," he said.
"They might find consolation in community spirituality, in churches or in their reading - they will turn to things - humans do that and they reach out to what's available and what they can afford."
Digging deeper
One Brisbane-based personal growth facilitator says this has been his experience in recent times.
Murray Masarik has been running Real Education workshops and seminars since 1994, attracting men and women from around Australia and the world.
"We've had a bonanza for 10 years of abundance, of work, of capital growth - there's been a wonderful time," he said.
"However, those times have modified, they've changed, and people are realising they need to let go of how they used to do things and find adaptability and change and readjust to the current situation."
Mr Masarik says the financial crisis has not deterred people from signing up to his personal growth courses, but that it has prompted them to dig even harder.
"What we've noticed is that people do express financial difficulty, but what seems to happen is they always find the money," he said.
"They believe this will provide more opportunities for them, there's definitely an echo of 'oh, this is really hard', but they've just seem to search more places to find the money so they can show up."
Mr Masarik says in the current economic climate, personal growth is like a mobile phone - an essential tool to get by.
He says those who can rise up emotionally from the downturn will be best-equipped once it is over.
"People no longer have the security of a boom decade, so they need to become an architect of their life, they need to know what to do and how to do it," he said.
"It's our ability to have emotional constitution, where we can sustain ourselves emotionally, we can rise to the occasion, we can seize the moment and make our lives work very successfully."
Embracing it
Leunig says it is up to individuals to absorb and handle their present suffering.
"One's got to live creatively - creativity means you lose what you expect to have, but you find something better and then you grow," he said.
"If that's what's happening, I say let it happen and embrace it."
November 10th 2009 marked one year since Creativity Australia's launch.
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