Merchants of Mind
(5 min read)
For the past few years I’ve passively become aware of a genre of “self-improvement” that has a distinct flavor to it . . . and it’s one that I have a visceral negative reaction to. You know I’m as interested in “maximizing human potential” as the next person, but there is the soulful, spiritual approach to it, and then there’s the whole for-profit industry that has sprung up around the idea that totally gives me the creeps. They set themselves apart by hyper slick production values, fancy videos, well-financed “platforms,” and TED-talk-on-steroids-presentation styles. Accompanying memes are #lifehack and #mindhack, etc. They seem to conceptualize human beings as “machines” that are to be “optimized,” and made to run more “effectively” and “efficiently.” They appear to be aligned with the transhumanist agenda (those who get excited about fusing biology with AI), and all of it just makes me shudder. I want to think about this a bit more, and figure out how I would explain to someone other than a close friend what I’m referring to with all this. I also want to figure out what the litmus test would be to suss out what I mean by “genuine” teaching and personal growth coaching vs. agents in this for-profit techno-commercial extractionist media-fueled hypnotizing pseudo-life-improvement industry.
Mindvalley is a prime example of the latter in my opinion. Just watch the intro video on their landing page, and tell me how that is anything other that TECH PORN! The shiny laptops, sleek iPads, glossy touch screens . . . Like, when did “Transform your Life” become synonymous with “Rubbing Up Against Tech Gadgets”?!
I came across them again a few days ago when I wanted to play some “focus music” on YouTube and the ad that played before getting to the music was this three-minute Mindvalley yuck-fest.
Watching this molassic drivel makes my hair stand on end. It’s so formulaic, so slick and smooth you just know something is attempting to mess with your psyche and I CAN’T STAND it. What’s so extra horrific about it is that it taps into all the things that we DO of course love and genuinely value: Genius, progress all around, discoveries, being in the flow state, the idea of expressing ourselves more, being happier, more manifested, etc. and so on. But seriously: Doesn’t this lubricious manipulation creep you out? You can almost feel the walls of the algorithmic pigeon hole closing in on you: If we start to identify as that which we are addressed as, media communications like these reduce us to something devoid of a direct/unmediated connection with the Sacred. We start to believe all “progress” toward an “ideal” involves linear, technical (MONETIZED) steps. On our way out of Plato’s Cave these are salesmen selling us tap-dance classes in a side passage.
Let’s look at the message of the above ad specifically: Is it really so important that we learn to “learn everything faster”? What, like computers? We already got superprocessing powers in machines yo. Are we really just competing as “processors”? “Techniques,” “tools,” “methods” . . . What am I? Some contraption that needs continuous tweaking? He says he went from “below normal” to “above normal.” Why does that just sounds so WRONG? What the hell is “normal”? Why should it be a problem to be “below” normal, and why should it be desirable to become “above normal”? What is this “above normal” place anyhow? “Above” according to WHOM? And this materialistic fervor for “science” . . . he almost comes in his pants when he says “the science of meta-learning.” Good job yo, you’ve put some fancy words together. Plato (and just about any ancient tradition) has you beat by like, oh I don’t know, THOUSANDS OF YEARS?! He says
“I think if there’s one skill to master in the 21st century it’s our ability to quickly learn, and apply, and think, and adapt faster than our environment.”
What does that mean, “faster than our environment”? Is the “environment” the enemy? Is it getting away from us? Or how exactly are we supposed to be “too slow”? Notice the presumed fact that we are inherently “out of sync” with our surroundings, and this constant hinting at “fragmentation” and “separation.” You really think there’s an inherent incongruence in the nature of Reality itself that your adorable “techniques” and stupid little gadgets are going to fix?
Oh, and don’t get me started on the insidious reinforcement of the power structure: “Working with high performers in HOLLYWOOD, and C-SUITE executives (showing an image of Bill Gates), founders, athletes,” etc. This is a bit of a side tangent but has it occurred to you how many supposed role models of our age are not just “average” when it comes to quality of character but downright abhorrent and documentedly so? What has to be wrong with a kid who looks up to Bill Gates and says “Yes, I want to grow up to be THAT GUY one day!” Steve Jobs was a terror to work with. Jeff Bezos is about as inspiring as a boiled egg. Zuckerberg has yet to convince anyone he’s actually human. Elon Musk at least has a pulse and boyish enthusiasm, but for yielding the power he does he signals the spiritual maturity of a happy weasel. Why should we all be so eager to become “just like” these billionaire man-babies who’ve distinguished themselves solely by the inherently questionable capacity for amassing absurd amounts of money? But I digress.
Back to Jimmy Kwik and how his “masterclass is going to ‘REVEAL’ the ‘10 keys to unlocking your super brain.’” I want to vomit. They’re using the sacred language of initiation and spiritual ascension while placing so-called “high achieving” idols at the top of the aspirational pyramid: Hollywood actors, corporate megalomaniacs, transhumanist freaks, etc. (if you’re a fan of transhumanism, trust me I’ll get into this more in future posts, and no, I’m not throwing out the glory of all things Cyberpunk with the bath goo). What it seems to come down to is a worshipping of the MIND and MENTAL POTENTIAL, which is synonymous with the EGO, and fundamentally incompatible with real Transcendence or Whatever We Mean when we refer to What Is Holy.
The underlying lie, to me, is this: “you must do X (and pay me for it) in order to attain Y,” when in truth we are all already living “the life we desire and deserve.” We are already endowed with the greatest gift. The gift of LIFE, CONSCIOUSNESS, and LOVE. If you’re suffering, or struggling to appreciate all that you have, taking a brain booster pill, inserting a google chip into your temple, or taking a class from Jim Kwik to “super charge” the misery machine that is your monkey mind will not help you. It will just make you work harder and, yes, faster, in going round and round the hamster wheel of Self-Avoidant life.
Just my 17 irate cents. I’d love to know your take on the matter. Feel free to drop me a line.
