Hello Friends!
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Now let's wrap this up.
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Our Existential Dread Is And Was REAL:
This existential dread was REAL - it was us picking up on how unsustainable our ways of life had become. It was a subtle awareness that this 'every man for himself' system where certain people groups were ALWAYS going to be in a state of MANUFACTURED insecurity, made us ALL weaker.
This is fine. The system works. Look, look at all these successful people who have money and are happy. Look at the celebrities. Look at the innovators. Look at all the people who grew themselves from nothing.
It's possible. If it's not happening for you, it's you. Not the system. Not us.
Activism, 'liberation movements' and spirituality were all commodified in this time. That need we all had for change, for health, for a feeling of power - those in positions of power figured out how to package and sell us the IDEA that we were doing something, again, without actually having to CHANGE anything about the system itself.
You can wear a T-Shirt. Buy a mug. Put some sort of symbol on your Facebook. You can PURCHASE your activism. You can choose which brands to support or boycott. You can be Pepsi or Coca-cola. You can feel like you're doing something while making sure the systems stay exactly as they are.
You feel like a person making choices but it's a choice between the system and the system.
We wanted to feel special.
We wanted to feel powerful.
We wanted to be unique.
And our spirituality and economy were used as weapons to exploit this desire.
Spirituality Is Now Marketable:
All of a sudden, we didn’t want old and traditional. We didn’t want general channellings. We didn’t want the books and methods that were time tested.
No.
Now we wanted INDIVIDUALISM. We wanted our spirituality to be catered to us. We wanted to pick and choose from all sorts of traditions and use what we liked and leave the rest. We wanted our channelling sessions to be OUR guides, OUR loved ones, OUR higher selves. We wanted our spiritual books to tell us what ‘type’ we are so we can know how to work best as individuals to have the most success.
It all became about the individual, just like the economy became all about the individual.
This was a perfect tool for keeping the system going.
Not only could we continually be gas-lit into the idea that our suffering, our fear, our anxieties, our lack of self knowledge and lack of provision was a spiritual deficiency - we could also be SOLD an innumerable and unending supply of spiritual tools, workshops, sessions, books and so on in order to HEAL these seemingly self caused dreads and issues.
We weren't scapegoating, coping, addicted, self sabotaging or otherwise struggling in the system because the system was messed up. We weren't feeling lonely, isolated, fearful of everyone and everything because we were literally indoctrinated to see 'other' in everyone, we weren't insecure because the system won't allow us to feel secure - no, we were broken, weak and in need of improvement so that we could become perfectly productive, happy, well functioning cogs in the wheel!
Remember, virtue was now how much you could DO. How much you could OFFER. How much you could be constantly LEVELING UP. How much you could be participating without complaining. How much you could be consuming the right spiritual things.
We started getting more and more into ideas of positive thought, beliefs, affirmations, the power of intention - because again we were being told that the whole world was a result of US. We were being totally robbed of our capacity to create ACTUAL social or political change, we didn't have control over the means of productions and the other systems, and thus continually FEELING like life was spiraling out of control - then being told that we could make ourselves feel better by just changing our internal landscape.
Your life is all a result of you and your choices. Your vibration. Your energy. Your alignment or misalignment with your truth. Don't be a victim. Don't ask for help. Don't be weak. Don't have negative emotions. Don't be angry at anyone or anything - that's not mature. Every problem you have is yours to solve inside yourself. It's never the system. It's never abuse. It's never corruption. It's all you and your choices alone.
Sound familiar??
Stepping out of 'victim mentality' and seeing that our whole lives were manufactured, chosen and a result of US individually making choices. We were being spoon-fed this idea of 'personal responsibility' not as a method of ACTUAL self empowerment, but as a way of keeping us complacent in a system.
This 'New Thought' methodology wasn't 'new' - it had been around since the birth of capitalism itself. These 'spiritual' teachings of self empowerment, self help, personal responsibility rose with the new economy - in perfect tandem. You can learn more about the history of these teachings in this video here.
Personal responsibility was being used as a weapon - not something that actually worked to set anyone FREE. Most of us didn't see this at all - and many of us are still participating in this mindset to this day. While there is real power in knowing where your freedom of choice lies, where you do have the capacity to make your own life better, where you DO have true mobility, there is also a deep issue with these teachings.
These teachings heavily support the idea that anyone who needs help in ANY way, is weak. These teachings lean heavily on the idea that the system is perfect how it is - and if YOU are struggling in any way, that it is some deficiency within YOU. There is absolutely NO mind paid to trauma, abuse, systemic inequities, and the responsibility of those who are RUNNING the system to do better. There is no mind paid to the fact that we ARE being dictated how we are going to live by a system that is fundamentally set up to profit the few at the cost of the many. These ideas supported the idea that generational poverty, high crime rates in certain areas, drug and alcohol abuse, any kind of lack of ability to work hard in the system was a result of personal, moral failing - deserving of harsh punishment, exclusion and blame. It indoctrinated us into being ok with groups of people being left out of society, not helped, not supported, not rehabbed because we were all brainwashed into believing that these were bad people, drains on society, making it worse for all of us.
Our spirituality started to be more and more of a monetizable commodity - readings, sessions with holy people, the trappings of spirituality in the form of books, totems, dress and so on - were no longer something for the holy people or given freely as service - now they were SOLD to us. Spirituality became an identity, a status symbol. Required access. Required resources. It became more and more trendy, less and less traditional.
As always, we were looking to our spirituality to give us the codes to society without realizing it. Because we are still separated from the means of production, we still have to be valuable to the system itself in order to have access to goods and resources. In order to be WELL in our society, you have to work in a way that serves the system to some degree. We as humans still want the same stuff - access to resources and community so as to soothe our existential dread. And now that comes from being an ‘individual’ within the system. Because that’s how CAPITALISM works. Find your place, work hard, offer something, earn your spot - and the system rewards you. Don’t do these things, can’t do these things, won’t do these things? You are cast out.
We are currently looking to our spirituality to give us our identity so we know what role to play in the system so we will be given what we need without having to suffer while we do it.
That’s what our spirituality is selling us these days.
Spiritual Mix And Match Without Respect:
Which leads us to the fact that for the last many centuries, the spiritual practices of most non European cultures were starting to be taken out of context and marketed to a 'Western' audience. We were being flooded with the "new thought" movement ideas, and they were being combined with Eastern philosophy and the practices of other Indigenous groups.
As we became more of a 'Global community' and as we moved away from the Abrahamic religions that supported the 'old age' and old ideas of social structures, we saw more and more of a mixing of cultures, spiritual practices, ideas, lineages and belief systems all being woven together to create 'New Age' religion.
Which is, for the most part, a hodge-podge of coopted spiritual half truths meant to give us a feeling of individual liberation from the 'old mindset' without having to pay any attention to lineage, tradition or the people groups from which these practices were taken.
In our quest for answers, for something new, for something novel, for something that wasn't what we had had before - there was nothing more enticing than those foreign practices from far off lands. In our quest for individuality, for feeling special, for teachings that were seemingly catered to us and our specific needs, New Age offered a buffet of things to pick and choose from, the be cycled through, to be adopted superficially and then released when something newer and shiner came along.
These cultures and native practices were exploited deeply. Their sacred arts and traditions were ripped from them, made into products and services that could be sold, and were marketed to us as liberation tools. And we ate it up again, because the system was eating US alive. ANY lifeline was something we were going to take without questioning.
Many of us were so dissatisfied or downright ABUSED by the faiths of our caregivers, that when we stepped into our first yoga class, had our first tarot card reading, were shown how to make a crystal grid or were taught that our thoughts created reality - it was like the biggest breath of fresh air in the world. We weren't going to look into the history. We weren't going to unpack the genocide, rape, pillaging and exploitation of the people groups from which these practices came. We weren't going to look into the lineages of abuse these traditions came from. We weren't going to look for context. We weren't going to look for where and how these things were meant to be applied. We were going to water it all down to make it suit what we wanted and needed rather than allowing ourselves to investigate the truth of what we were taking in.
Spirituality was the next thing we were going to take, monetize and make trends out of.
And boy did we ever do that.
At this point, spirituality is essentially something you buy, virtue signal and talk about. It's stuff you wear. Jargon you say. Practices you do without really knowing where they come from or what the initial context was.
The worst part, is that MOST of the spirituality we have now is being used in SERVICE to the system.
We're all using our spiritual tools to try to become more productive, abundant, transcended - and all that is serving is the end of keeping us in a state of constant production and consumption.
We want to be free from suffering.
We want to know the meaning and purpose of it all so we can feel safe within it.
We want to be liberated from the constant struggle - and for this we turn to spirituality instead of looking to the systems we live in and how they do or don’t serve this end.
Right now the answers are being sold to us in spiritual capitalism - find your type, get your individually channeled message, get your chart read, find your special gift that only you have - and then go out and DO that in the world - and when you do, you will be generating something of value for OTHERS and in this you will be rewarded with community and goods. And a promise that you are doing good and therefore will be rewarded in the after life/next life. You have to already have capital to engage in any of this, but that’s besides the point...
You will have pleasure and safety now, a promise that all that pain you suffered was leading you to something greater, and you will feel good knowing that you’re one of the good ones headed to a good place after this round.
It’s dressed up as evolution and expansion - and parts of it may be, there are seeds of truth in everything - but our spiritual capitalism is far more capitalist than it is spirituality. It’s following the market trends that keep the system GOING - rather than being something that’s helping us see and dismantle the system.
It’s a weapon being used against us, to keep us in this merry-go-round.
I’m not saying individuality isn’t important.
Nor am I saying we don't have freedoms and personal responsibility we can take that will make our lives better.
I’m not saying no one is seeking ‘true’ spirituality, nor am I trying to make a judgment call on what true spirituality is or isn't. I believe so long as we’re alive, our spirituality is GOING to be, in part, about survival. Of COURSE we want pleasure. Of COURSE we want to express ourselves. Of COURSE! I feel like so long as we’re alive a part of our spirituality is going to be centered on… us. I don’t think this is inherently ‘unspiritual.’ Rather we are holistic beings that have the capacity, and even the need, to be both head in the clouds and feet planted on the earth. Our spirituality is always going to contain some elements of transcendence that are weaved into our human experience. One without the other is going to lead to imbalance. Too much spirit and we lose touch with what’s necessary for survival and this hinders our spiritual growth due to the fact that said growth requires that we exist in a body. Too much feet in the earth and we lose sight of the grander picture, leading to stagnation and often feelings of being trapped.
We do have individual power. Getting to know yourself, working through your traumas, learning to be embodied - all of these things are incredibly important. Connecting with something that feels real to you is a beautiful thing. This isn't about throwing the baby out with the bath water. This is about starting to be more mindful and aware of what we're participating in, where it comes from, who it serves and really questioning the water we're swimming in.
There’s no ‘wrong’ way to be spiritual - but I do think it’s important to recognize where spirituality has simply tipped too far in the direction of consumerism - because then we can lose the plot on what we’re actually looking for.
The main thing to think about here is the idea that spirituality CAN and SHOULD lead us to a perfect after where no suffering happens again - and seeing that this isn’t a reality in our human reality.
It’s about seeing that spirituality doesn’t have to have a price tag - and if it does, it may not be what we think it is.
It may be about realizing that a truly pragmatic spirituality may be something that helps us work WITH the reality we live in - our emotions, our thoughts, our bodies, the very real tragedies and societal systems we all encounter - rather than promising to deliver us FROM reality.
It may be about letting GO of the idea of heaven, and embracing the ever changing and insecure nature of being alive and self aware.
It may be about buying less.
It may be about realizing that perfect self expression isn’t a panacea for pleasure and provision.
It may be that there’s more - much more - than what’s being marketed to us right now.
It may be about studying actual lineage, context and origins. It may be about becoming sensitive to what we're participating in. It may be about becoming aware of the abuses in all these practices and how we can help eradicate them. It may be about having to expand into the idea that life isn't simple and there's no magic bullet for any of it.
It may be about realizing that we are interdependent - and that our hyper focus on the self, while important, isn't everything and is certainly NOT rescuing us the way we wanted it to.
We need to go deeper. Our spirituality needs to help us question the system so we can change it.
If our spirituality is SUPPORTING the system - it's not spirituality. It's capitalism. It's patriarchy. It's exploitation.
Just something to think about.
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