capitalism

Cultivation For Cultivation’s Sake

by

So I set aside time for spiritual cultivation in my life. What I find weird is that’s very hard to talk about. Though I am informed by Taoist traditions, where “setting off to seek the Tao” is part of lore and history, our culture doesn’t seem to have an equivalent.

I’m not off to use this as therapy, despite the many benefits. Therapy is, well, therapy – and well worth everyone’s time. There are plenty of mental benefits to spiritual practice, but sometimes it’s useful to just work shit out. It also lets you focus on your practice and avoid spiritual confusion.

I’m not off to “optimize myself” and “be mindful of my work” or whatever you call “hijacking spiritual practice to be better at my job.” My job is my job, my practice is my practice. It’s nice if my job allows me to get insights, and nice if my spiritual work helps me out in my career. If I want to be better at my job, I’ll be better at my job.

I’m also not trying to make a spiritual career. If I want a new job or be a minister or whatever, then I’ll do that. I mean maybe I will some day. But that’s not the goal, but “spiritual hobbyist” doesn’t quite catch it either.

Oh, and I’m not writing a book. I mean yeah, maybe I might. I do make blog posts but that’s sort of the whole outreach/connect thing. But I’m not trying to produce something

I’m setting aside time for spiritual cultivation because that’s what I want to do. I want to be better, expand myself, seek wholeness, attain the Tao. That’s my goal, not these others things, because if they were my goal I’d so something else.

But too often I see spiritual practices assumed to be for work, or to make money, or as a substitute for dealing with your parental issues. There’s something about our culture that assumes spiritual practice can or should be something else.

It’s almost like we don’t have a language or a concept that recognizes “I am taking a significant portion of my time for spiritual growth” and have it respected and seen as normal. Or at least “acceptably eccentric.” I don’t even know how I’d express it to people, to be honest.

Maybe capitalism is part of it. We’re always taught to be hustling, making money, doing what’s profitable, etc. The idea of doing something for it’s own sake – spiritual or art or whatever – seems alien to many. The idea of giving up something (unless that makes you more money) seems weird.

Perhaps I need to find my own way to talk about it, to own that – and maybe I’ll be a good influence on others. Or at least make a small contribution to discussing it.

–Xenofact

The Monsters They Brought With Them

by

There’s something wrong with so many famous people, rich people, and famous rich people. They’re ranting about conspiracy theories and weird reproductive obsessions. There’s talk of aliens and hallucinatory trips, drug usage, and secret history from people supposedly directing our future.. Something is off with these folks.

It’s not just things they say or believe for a profit or fame – I mean they do say these things for profit and fame. But it seems they really believe some of this crap, at least before they find something else to freak out about. There is some real fear there under the usual isolated-rich-famous-weirdo delusions.

It seems weird to be so afraid of everything. I mean you got money and fame and everything, why be so terrified? Why be so terrified of things that are clearly bullshit?

Well beyond daddy issues and the usual problems that make people fall into conspiracy thinking, I think one issue is these people are so isolated.

You’re rich, you can do anything you want. But also you depend on other people, people who say what you want to here so they stay on the gravy train. You are flattered and complimented. You are isolated and detached from reality.

You’re famous. People love you, talk about you, follow you (often for almost no good reason). Of course that means once again you exist in an isolated world. You are of course flattered and complimented, probably even moreso if you were just rich.

If you’re rich, famous, or both you exist in a kind of bubble, separate from reality. You’re in a kind of virtual reality crossed with an isolation tank. There’s no reality, there’s just what you brought with you.

And many people bring monsters with them.

Fears and delusions rampage through their minds, echoing off of the walls of their strange isolation. No one is going to correct them or even help them. That might make them angry and cut off the money train.

Told what they want to hear, they operate in unreality. Reality will shift to what they want to hear, delivered by hangers-on, investors, and an adoring public. But that also means their own terrors and insecurities can find root in their fallow minds. People who want to get ahead may also play off of their concerns.

Most of all, I suspect many of them know this isn’t real. You know people are lying, are flattering you. The news cycle constantly reminds you of your mistakes and fallabilities. You’re out there, famous, rich, exposed to the eye of reality and the eye of yourself. Every day, maybe every minute on social media, someone is reminding you you’re not right, you’re not perfect, you’re just a bank account and a PR department wrapped in flesh.

The rich, the famous in our world are so disconnected I wonder how much of their strange paranoia is just their own bouncing off the walls of their own unreal prison.

Unfortunately they make decisions about our lives.

–Xenofact

The Sage Trap

by

Ever see someone who wrote a great book of wisdom and gave a few good speeches change into something not them?  Maybe they become some ranting crank, maybe they’re churning out shit, but they’re not the person you thought they were.  I mean sure maybe they were always an asshole, but not every wise person you admire can be a horrible twit.

What the hell happens to these truly people that make their fifth book so full of bullshit, egotism, crank rants, or all three?  Let me propose that in too many cases the issue is they keep going.

Some people have one to a few good books in them and that’s fine.  I mean no one is angry that Lao-Tzu wrote one (OK, maybe two) books.   I’ve seen many authors who do one or two books of advice and happily go back to whatever they do or write something different.

But we all know many an writer that keeps going. It seems that timeless wisdom becomes less wise and more time consuming as more and more books come out.

In our world, being a truly wise person, being a person of insight, means you will get exploited and be encouraged to exploit yourself.  It can be overwhelming enough that an asshole will go for it, and a truly insightful person may not be insightful enough to fall into the trap.

Our capitalist economy is based on finding what makes money and squeezing the hell out of it.  You’ll get book deals and opportunities, speaking engagements and convention schedules.  Why it might even let you quit that job and be a wise person full time – and then you’re trapped as all you can do is keep doing more stuff even if there’s nothing more to say.

You might even say I’m not doing it for the money.  But you may well bloody be doing it for the praise, the adoration, and the confirmation.  You have confirmation people want you, which can boost your ego or worse make you think you can keep helping people by doing the same thing.  Meanwhile the publishers and marketers will be fine to add to their bank accounts thanks to you.

People don’t want you to go anyway!  You wrote one good book that changed their lives, so keep changing it!  Our culture doesn’t emphasize reading and rereading classics, it pushes the new, the latest, the better-than-last.

What our society does not do is say “you left us some truly great wisdom with this book or two, thank you” and move on – and lets the writer move on.  We damn well know one person can change the world with a book or two, but our culture and economy doesn’t let that happen.

Being someone with real wisdom to share can be a trap.

Again I’m not decrying writing a lot of stuff.  I myself write here and under other names on many subjects because its my hobby – though I did have to learn when to stop.  Other people have a lot to say about subjects – something I also do (and also had to learn when to stop).  Yet others savor the challenge of covering a new topic each book, as a friend of mine does.   What I am saying is it’s best to be aware that our culture and economy will wring every dollar out of you, lock you into doing the same thing, and you may well fall for it.

You can be good enough that you eventually end up not good at all.

I start appreciating many a mystic, monk, and weirdo who wrote a book or two, blew people’s minds, then headed into the mountains or started a band or retired to smoke weed.  Sometimes the greatest gift is to shut up and do something else and let people appreciate your brilliance.

– Xenofact