Dear Diary,
In the West, the name of the game is Capitalism. While, once upon a time, Capitalism may have meant the opening up of markets for trade between one location and another, or one new good, service, or technology and another, today Capitalism implies something much more insidious. Capitalism in practice today is a race to the bottom where the Capital Class – those who own everything – exploit workers, nature, corruptible officials, etc., to suck up more. The Capital Class today is now above the law in all but name, and owns so much wealth by percentage and raw value the economy no longer operates for the everyperson but caters primarily toward them and them alone.
If Capitalism did not cause ‘Commodity Culture’ wherein people are no longer viewed as people but objects to be disposed of upon use, then Capitalism absolutely emphasized and accelerated it. Gone are the days of good pensions and being adequately rewarded for company loyalty. Good work is rewarded with more work, but not necessarily more compensation or promotions. Even socially, it is all too common for people to dehumanize one another at the earliest convenience, be it in the dating world, the political world, the sports world, or any other environment that suits someone’s selfishness.
With Capitalism and Commodity Culture in mind, it is no wonder so many can develop a fundamental misunderstanding about Meditation. Meditation is an invitation to be completely present with your activity without judgment or concern about external factors. Meditation is an invitation to give something your all without pressure, to experience something fully as you work on the task. Capitalism wants you to do more with less, commit to infinite growth so others, the investors and C-Suite primarily, can be paid increasing amounts of money from your labor.
You cannot perfect Meditation; you use Meditation to perfect yourself. The misconception is so many try to perfect Meditation, as in people endlessly try to chase being better at work in pursuit of that infinite growth ideal, or even with hobbies, try to be ‘better’ than other people, as Commodity Culture teaches people if you aren’t winning, if you aren’t immediately desirable, you’re old news and tossed aside. The truth of the matter, however, is such a hollow journey produces soulless homunculi, which is fine for the Capital Class, as broken beings tend to resist less.
At first, the journey of self-improvement and task improvement may be mirrored, but at some point of expertise, if the focus doesn’t turn inward, a limit will be reached, regardless of the effort spent. At some point, the elusive question, ‘Why,’ must be addressed. Why is the subject of your Meditation worth such devotion? Once you develop the requisite skills, what are you going to do with them? Who are you, deep down?
In today’s world, many have degrees and certifications but are quite unhappy. By contrast, how many truly have a grasp of themselves and are equally unhappy? There are stories of people who went to law school and cook street food instead because their heart is with a knife and spoon instead of a suit and tie. They don’t confuse money for wealth and dare to listen to themselves over Capitalist pressures. Yes, today’s world requires money to survive, but a good rule of thumb is to pursue money only as much as your lifestyle requires. If you want to travel the world in first class constantly, then you need to chase money a lot more than someone who is content to watch the leaves change color little by little, reading a book at their local library.
Using Meditation to perfect oneself is a challenging journey requiring courage, grace, and patience. The good news is you are not alone, and oftentimes something you may be working toward and/or stuck on shares many parallels with another! We can learn from and teach each other in equal measure. After all, we’re people called people living on a planet called dirt – a mantra I enjoy saying as a grounding and demystifying technique to remind myself we have many more similarities than differences.
Being the best versions of ourselves is (generally) good for all involved. You do not need to simply be a cog in the corporate machine, or a tool for others’ use with no hope of reciprocity or validation. On the flip side, not every act of Meditation needs to be explicitly about self-improvement; however, when we begin to reach the questions of ‘Why’ and other potentially paradigm-shifting questions, do not shy away, even if they take longer to answer than you’d prefer or if the answers aren’t initially what you would have thought.
Do more of what makes you happy; you are worth it.
reBLUEvinate