Meditation for January 11th
The Self-Help to Fascism Pipeline
What if I told you that taking a bubble bath, listening to a guided meditation, and then reading a self-help book is transforming you into a fascist? Most of you would be very upset and defensive, so before you start writing me letters, let’s dive into the danger of self-help.
I know, it’s pretty crazy that a self-help meditation blog, and one as popular as this one, would look at the negative side of self-help. Still, we are seeing our society swing even further to the right, and the individualism of self-care is driving much of that.
Like all things, self-help is meant to be used in moderation, but because the results can be downright euphoric at times and are largely shaped by the world around us, it can make us numb, and a numb society breeds indifference and apathy.
One of the symptoms that makes a person reach out for self-help is disconnection, and even though we think we are more connected than ever, we are actually more disconnected than before. While community would seem to be the solution, self-help thrives on our feelings of disconnection and even deepens them with some of its self-care practices.
Some of the reasons self-help leads us into fascism are the prominence of the self, for we are pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps, as the saying goes, and the more individualistic we feel, the less we feel part of a common purpose. We might think our self-care makes us more empathetic, but it pushes us further away from our neighbors.
Self-help is popular because it doesn’t require much more than buying a book or listening to a podcast, and then repeating what they said as your own philosophy. Self-help is now more popular because discomfort is a sign that things are wrong, not just the occasional bad time. We are confusing discomfort for trauma, and we are suffering more for it.
Now, a little rest, some boundaries, and working on ourselves are great, but we can’t forget that we are part of the universe. Monotheism, a fascist’s favorite kind of control over others, creates a sense of purpose that gives us dominion over nature. Our God makes us feel like a precious, special snowflake. Still, if we believe we are all one, we have a responsibility to help our communities flourish. Self-help creates the narrative that we are too tired to help others and that we have too much on our plates already trying to achieve self-care, so we stay in the cycle of disconnectedness. We start to view those around us as threats to our personhood and our serenity.
We, as Americans, view autonomy as self-sufficiency, and most self-help models promote it, so when we feel threatened by “others”, we begin to retreat into self-protection. Fascism is protecting itself from an existential threat.
So, when we are in the bubble bath and the phone rings, we feel anger that the world is asking too much of us, and we retreat further.
Prayer
Instead of a prayer, let’s meditate for another moment. Prayer is speaking to the gods, and sometimes we find ourselves either dictating directions to them or struggling to find the words for a thoughtful prayer.
Meditate before you pray. Let the silence highlight what is in your mind. Don’t be afraid of the noise in there, for it’s natural to think while being quiet, and most of us keep our world very noisy, so why would a second after the silence start, we become monks? If your mind is all over the place, find a mantra that brings you back to silence.
If a thought arises that seems relevant to our journey, follow it; maybe it will lead you to a prayer. Let the solitude help us find a reason to speak to the gods. Listen to what the gods want you to worship.
When we pray before we meditate, we are meditating and trying to hear God telling us, “Good job.”
Craft
Book club
Take a book, any book, and have a few friends read it. Periodically meet to discuss the book. It doesn’t have to be an important book; it can be a pulpy mystery or fantasy, but look at the ideas, the prose, the plot, and discuss it with friends. Have good drinks and snacks. Watch your community strengthen.
Goal
Self-care in moderation is excellent, but we find that people are weaponizing self-help and therapy language to isolate themselves from others, and that is the first step in fascism.
The Last One: Below is the last Cracked Meditation I wrote. I started the meditations on January 10th, 2016, and this was written on January 11th, 2017.
Meditation for January 11th, 2017
The Last One
On January 11th, 2016, I decided to commit to writing a blog every day for a year. I was recovering from cancer treatment, and my head had taken a heavy blow from chemo. I had cognitive issues and reading and writing, two things that I love, and I struggled to read a sentence or write one.
So I decided to write a meditation blog making fun of the spiritual, psychobabble, woo-woo, recovery-based culture that I see on my Facebook feed all day.
I had a lot of fun. I got to be creative and make fun of things. I’d write it and think, ‘I can’t wait till _______ reads this, they’ll get so bummed.’ I’d also get stoked if someone liked what I wrote.
All the negative responses were about spelling and grammar and not the actual content, so I rolled my eyes and felt fine.
I write most of these on my iPhone, lying down next to my girlfriend before going to sleep, hoping she’ll read them and laugh.
As the year went on, my head started to clear, writing got easier, and then reading got easier. Doing this for a year helped me get back on my feet. Words got easier to remember, ideas became more fluid, and I started to feel more confident in my thinking.
Thank you to all the people who read all of them, a lot of them, or even some of them. I had to give myself a commitment and be accountable for it, and publishing it for all to see was the way I found to be responsible.
I don’t know what the future holds for my writing. I want to get more into the visual arts. I don’t want this to be the end of my creative process. I’ll still blog.
I am 40 years old. I don’t want to disappear into my job or creating a family. I want creativity to be a significant part of my life. This year has helped me know I can do it. All I need is self-discipline.
So thank you. I hope that I made you laugh or touched you in some way in these silly little Cracked Pot Meditations.
I didn’t realize that you had set that intention of writing a blog a day for a year. That’s amazing! I applaud you for sticking to it and finishing. But please don’t stop creating and/or writing. The world needs your voice.
So sad it’s over!!!!! I have really liked your posts. You are an amazing writer with a true knack for expressing yourself. It is super hard to be funny in print, but you pull it off. I appreciate that. Acacia is an amazing writer (got her MFA in writing his year) and has that gift, as well. Keep it going!!!
Been fun Dave. Didn’t find time to read then all but I still remember the first one I read and finally got it!! Was funny as hell. Think I read more after that one. Will miss seeing them.
You made a difference in my life. Thanks for letting me hang out with you, and learn how to laugh at things that I don’t even know why I was laughing about them. Or cry about things that maybe I should have laughed at but instead they made my heart feel something that I myself had not been able to express so poignantly. I learned my brain is not as wonky as I thought, and that you can go through what we’ve gone through and still write, and read, and make people laugh, and make sense, and sometimes make others relearn an old thing. I have learned, kinda the hard way but oh well, that all the good inspirational loving stuff is around us all the time, and you just have to be open because you never know when someone else who you don’t even know might be just ahead of you on the path and leaving crumbs for you all the while. Thanks for leaving crumbs for me – you never disappointed. If you ever are inspired to form a creative group, an intellectual group that isn’t afraid to talk about real stuff and release energy through manifestations of art, writing, comedy, etc. I would love to “audition”. Reality is where its at. My best to you and your gal as you move into another stage of this wacky adventure. I hope for you joy and more joy in 2017. Thank you David xo.