Hello Love!
Today I want to talk about something that I feel we need to look at, as we navigate our personal journey's towards greater freedom. I want to look at the very REAL reasons who *most* spiritual/self help/self improvement teachers, guides, gurus and practitioners CAN'T be fully responsible for the content they put out. I want to touch on the systems that are causing our influencers to 'sell' us things that can't work or that don't work the way they say they do - and why they are just as caught up in the toxic capitalist system as anyone else.
With this awareness, we will be able to move through taking what actually works from the offerings of others, while no longer making ourselves vulnerable to the things that don't work/are predatory in nature.
Let's dive in.
Let's Remember: All Teachers/Gurus Are Working Within A System:
*Most* (not all) spiritual/self help/personal growth influencers can’t ever become responsible with the content they give out - the messages of healing and personal growth they espouse, the claims they make about the products and services they promote, the promises of how to get rich or happy or healthy, the ‘reason why all of this (fill in the blank) is happening’ - because it would totally destroy their method of profit generation.
We have to remember that what most of these people are selling are quick fixes, all encompassing, simple to understand ‘solutions’ to complex, systemic and deeply multi-factorial issues. Because at the end of the day - this is what *most* people want/all *most* people feel they can handle.
They embody a perfect kind of ‘after’ or a ‘relatable,’ strategically-vulnerable-but-still-healed-from-the-thing-you’re-struggling-with after, which tells us that if we just do what they did, take what they’ve taken, eat how they eat, move how they move - that we too will one day reach the levels of health, wealth and freedom that they seem to exude. No mind is paid to history, genetics, socio-economic status, societal placement and other BIG factors.
They’re the antidote to establishments of abuse and corruption that we no longer trust. They aren’t politicians making secret deals with corporations that screw over the little guys. They aren’t the pharmaceutical industry who’ve been pumping us with useless and harmful drugs for profit. They aren’t the system of profit motive and production at the cost of human lives. They aren’t the institutions that have been deliberately set up to prosper the few at the expense of the many. They’re just normal people. Just like us. But shinier and happier and healthier. They aren’t ‘them over there.’ They’re us over here - with our struggles, our realness and seemingly, real solutions.
They’re the antidote to true science or reporting - which is slow, very specific and nuanced, changes with new information (thus seemingly inconsistent), is fact checked and is rarely sensational, uninteresting to our ‘splash’ addicted brains and that otherwise makes very MODEST claims and promises only incremental change. They give us THE ANSWER that will FIX IT ALL - science and reporting give us slow studies, small results, specific outcomes that aren’t overarching.
They Can't Be Moderate In Their Offerings:
Influencer types are never going to fact check themselves. Are rarely ever going to walk back false statements, are almost never going to be inclined to offer realistic results of the programs they promote. They’re not going to be moderate or conservative in their promises. They don’t have to be. No one is holding them to account, and again we WANT what they’re selling. We don’t really want accountability a lot of the time - we want them to be right, so we’re just as willing to look away when evidence to the contrary arises as they are to sweep it under the rug.
They’re going to over inflate their ‘connection’ to you.
They’re going to over promise and under-deliver.
They’re going to make you believe that if their products or services don’t ‘work’ that it was YOU that failed the program - not the program that failed you.
They aren’t going to be responsible with their scope of practice because that would limit their market.
They aren’t going to be ACTUALLY vulnerable about what their offering DIDN’T do for them, about the problems it didn’t address, about the struggles and challenges that still exist in their lives.
They are always going to show you their highlight reel.
They’re always going to tell you that THIS THING IS IT and you won’t ever need anything else.
They’re going to over-inflate their before and after story.
They are going to milk their journey and make themselves seem as ‘sovereign’ and self responsible as possible - so as not to have to give credit to anyone else/not have to acknowledge the systemic nature of many of the issues we all face.
They’re going to erase people who don’t fit into their box of privilege, capacity and demographic because those people would ruin the facade of ‘this is for everyone and it fixes everything.’
They will always lie by omission - maybe not telling you anything ‘false’ but also not telling you the whole truth either.
This isn’t to say that NOTHING that’s offered by these people is helpful. It’s not to say that they don’t have SOME of the answers to SOME of our issues. It’s not to say that they are lying about the results they got. It’s just to say that they are living within the bounds of capitalism like everyone else. They are selling and marketing within a system that demands a quick fix.
That demands sparkle and intrigue.
That demands SOLUTIONS that are SIMPLE.
That demands something new and different and interesting CONSTANTLY.
That demands production > people.
That demands constant output > quality.
They are working within a system that was built on the structures of slave labor and machine production.
They are being sucked dry by the same system we all are. Let’s not forget that. They aren’t outside culture - no matter now ‘radical’ their ‘thing’ is. Generally speaking, they are very much a PART of the culture that demands our souls for cash.
So let’s just be mindful when we interact with these people. Let’s allow ourselves to remember the last time they offered us something that was THE ANSWER, and now they have a new thing - funny how that works?
Let’s remember the last time they did their ‘vulnerable share’ about how their world was falling apart but no worries because THIS TIME they found IT.
Let’s remember that they have to keep coming up with something new and recycling old stuff to make it seem new in order to keep ‘engagement’ up.
Let’s remember that they have to make big promises they can’t keep because generally people don’t want what’s realistic.
Let’s remember. Let’s step back. Let’s engage with a large amount of skepticism and reasonable expectation. Let’s remember there’s never AN answer to ANY problem. Their tools may be a STEP and that’s great - but let’s remember it as that. No one has it all, no one is done, no one is perfect. Let people give you the little nuggets they’ve acquired without falling into the trap of believing they have the whole pie.
<3
