Why Alt-Spirituality is so Commercialized
Oct. 13th, 2020 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
causticusIt's pretty much common knowledge (among those why pay attention to such matters) that much of what passes for spirituality in America has become highly commercialized, and as a result of that, intellectually-vacuous and polyannish in character. The so-called "New Age Guru" who is almost entirely money-driven is an all-too-common trope these days.
In my own estimation there is a very simple explanation for this. Namely, that the act of providing religious or spiritual guidance, instruction, services, ect., outside the confines of a well-established religious organization*, is-all-but impossible without the use of a revenue-generation scheme of one sort or another. Basically, the spiritual service provider needs to put food on the table and a roof over their head just like everyone else does. This is especially true of the person in question is going to provides these services on a full-time basis; as opposed to a mere hobbyist who provides these services only in their free time away from their day job, who might have the opportunity to provide pro-bono services to a select few.
So our 'free-range' spiritual teacher isn't going to be working for some large institution that will provide him lodging and a small salary to cover living basics. Nor does he have a wealthy King, Duke, or other Aristocrat to graciously serve as his patron and cover his living costs. No, he must procure these things all on his own, which means he has to run his service like a business. And the priority recipients of his services will be those with the greatest ability to pay the costs of services up front. And thus he if he is the least bit business savvy, he must market his services in a way that attracts paying clients. He will present his business in a manner that caters to the cultural biases and aesthetic tastes of his target clientele. And as a result, he is going to think less of how to market his services to potential clients of more modest means.
This is precisely why we see so much of contemporary alt-spirituality seeming to pander to the collective narcissism of the affluent classes who are able to afford the types of services, seminars and consultation that fit the above profile. Instead of of a message like "stoically battle your lower nature and uglier tendencies, and gain knowledge by shedding your ignorance and delusions..." we get something more along the lines of "discover your inner child and unleash that shining greatness you never knew you had!" All of this is why Alt-Spirituality by and large panders and caters to the Professional-Managerial Class (PMC) many of us in the know love to lampoon a lot these days. Be it Neopaganism, Secular "Buddhism", Soccer Mom Yoga, or whatever New New Age Seminar Fad of the Week is now hot, it's all fundamentally governed by the same formula.
On the flipside of all of these, we get many cases of those who are seeking out something more authentic and potent calling out anyone and everyone who charges money for their services. I've seen the mantra uttered a few times, "a true teacher would never charge for spiritual wisdom!" This is true to some extent, but on a practical level is simply impossible in today's modern western society. As I mentioned above, spiritual instructors have to eat too. And it might suck greatly that we simply lack institutional support structures for genuine spiritual systems; but the cruddy situation we're stuck in is what it is. Everything about modern Anglo culture in particular is commercially-focused. We're all expected to be successful merchants first and foremost. How many Americans are willing to financially support religious organizations that unapologetically denounce merchant values and commercialism as being the be-all/end-all of existence? Yeah, fat chance.
So he will have to charge for his services or instruction materials and prioritize paying customers over any begging charity cases, but at the same time he can consciously commit to living a modest lifestyle (sorry, no gold-plated megachurch or bamboo-chic island retreat to lord over) and setting aside some time to people who could really use his help. I guess the 'right' idea is to make some money, but not too much.
---
* this is not to say that established religious organizations are not driven by money or profit motives. In so many cases they are indeed, though large organizations tend to provide better opportunities for those would be service-providers who are motivated by more selfless concerns.
In my own estimation there is a very simple explanation for this. Namely, that the act of providing religious or spiritual guidance, instruction, services, ect., outside the confines of a well-established religious organization*, is-all-but impossible without the use of a revenue-generation scheme of one sort or another. Basically, the spiritual service provider needs to put food on the table and a roof over their head just like everyone else does. This is especially true of the person in question is going to provides these services on a full-time basis; as opposed to a mere hobbyist who provides these services only in their free time away from their day job, who might have the opportunity to provide pro-bono services to a select few.
So our 'free-range' spiritual teacher isn't going to be working for some large institution that will provide him lodging and a small salary to cover living basics. Nor does he have a wealthy King, Duke, or other Aristocrat to graciously serve as his patron and cover his living costs. No, he must procure these things all on his own, which means he has to run his service like a business. And the priority recipients of his services will be those with the greatest ability to pay the costs of services up front. And thus he if he is the least bit business savvy, he must market his services in a way that attracts paying clients. He will present his business in a manner that caters to the cultural biases and aesthetic tastes of his target clientele. And as a result, he is going to think less of how to market his services to potential clients of more modest means.
This is precisely why we see so much of contemporary alt-spirituality seeming to pander to the collective narcissism of the affluent classes who are able to afford the types of services, seminars and consultation that fit the above profile. Instead of of a message like "stoically battle your lower nature and uglier tendencies, and gain knowledge by shedding your ignorance and delusions..." we get something more along the lines of "discover your inner child and unleash that shining greatness you never knew you had!" All of this is why Alt-Spirituality by and large panders and caters to the Professional-Managerial Class (PMC) many of us in the know love to lampoon a lot these days. Be it Neopaganism, Secular "Buddhism", Soccer Mom Yoga, or whatever New New Age Seminar Fad of the Week is now hot, it's all fundamentally governed by the same formula.
On the flipside of all of these, we get many cases of those who are seeking out something more authentic and potent calling out anyone and everyone who charges money for their services. I've seen the mantra uttered a few times, "a true teacher would never charge for spiritual wisdom!" This is true to some extent, but on a practical level is simply impossible in today's modern western society. As I mentioned above, spiritual instructors have to eat too. And it might suck greatly that we simply lack institutional support structures for genuine spiritual systems; but the cruddy situation we're stuck in is what it is. Everything about modern Anglo culture in particular is commercially-focused. We're all expected to be successful merchants first and foremost. How many Americans are willing to financially support religious organizations that unapologetically denounce merchant values and commercialism as being the be-all/end-all of existence? Yeah, fat chance.
So he will have to charge for his services or instruction materials and prioritize paying customers over any begging charity cases, but at the same time he can consciously commit to living a modest lifestyle (sorry, no gold-plated megachurch or bamboo-chic island retreat to lord over) and setting aside some time to people who could really use his help. I guess the 'right' idea is to make some money, but not too much.
---
* this is not to say that established religious organizations are not driven by money or profit motives. In so many cases they are indeed, though large organizations tend to provide better opportunities for those would be service-providers who are motivated by more selfless concerns.
