Recently, I started reading a book about spirituality called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I first discovered this book when I saw a girl in a coffee shop hunched over and totally engrossed in this book, and her concentration intrigued me. I am always looking for books that captivate, and this girl was certainly captivated, so I soon found myself in possession of The Power of Now. It has been a while since I read a book about spirituality. The first 30 pages or so, my admittedly rigidified brain from all the "technical" books prior was not really meshing with Tolle's abstract thoughts. Eventually, his ideas started to really resonate with me. The main idea, which may seem pretty simple because at its core it is, is the idea that enlightenment is found only in the present moment. We spend too much of our mental energy compulsively thinking about the past or future, which is not the Now. These patterns of thinking distract us from the Now which is where true peace lies. The Now is what matters, because it is the only thing we have direct control over.
"If it is the quality of your consciousness at this moment that determines the future, then what is it that determines the quality of your consciousness? Your degree of presence. So the only place where true change can occur and where the past can be dissolved is the Now." (Eckhart Tolle).
I found many of Tolle's ideas on mindfulness and presence to be very calming and insightful, and so have many other people who have read his book. Over 5 million copies were sold, and its reviews are glowing. People credit Tolle's words with helping them turn their lives around for the better and giving them the tools they need to live a more peaceful existence.
I recently came across a video titled "Self help is taking over spirituality." The thumbnail for the video depicted a frowning girl and the book The Power of Now photoshopped above her head, along with some others I didn't recognize. I immediately clicked the video because I wanted to see her take on the book I was reading and enjoying.
In her video, she discusses that books published recently about spirituality are coined "new age spirituality," and these books are feeding capitalism, which diminishes their value in the spiritual community. Coming from a girl who at the beginning of the video states that she was not spiritual whatsoever, she had a lot of opinions about how these new age spirituality books were detrimental to people who are spiritual such as Buddhists or Hindus because it appropriates their culture. The commodification of certain items used by different cultures such as sage used by the Native Americans is also an example that people view as spiritual/cultural appropriation. Most of these new age spirituality books seem to be targeted at the busy westerner with poor work-life balance. New age spiritualism also brings in a lot of ideas from eastern religions, probably because many of these ways of thinking offer an alternative mindfulness-based approach to living life, which isn't really at the forefront as much in western cultures and religions.
There is no doubt in my mind that western societies have indeed adopted many bits and pieces from eastern cultures, especially their spiritual practices emphasizing mindfulness. Many of these ideas have been indeed turned into a source of profit and capitalization, such as a white person who does not prescribe to any religion having a statue of the Buddha in their house, a Himalayan prayer flag, or a Tibetan Singing Bowl, (all of which can be found in my house). Items from other cultures, often traditionally religious ones, are marketed and advertised to westerners as tokens of spirituality as if spirituality can be found in a material object. "Enlightenment" as many eastern religions call it, most likely cannot be found in a material object, but for many people, symbols of spirituality is a comfort to them. People usually don't hang spiritual symbols to make fun of them. They are trying to connect with something and probably find peace, and for them, having an object is not a bad first step. It's a small thing that maybe makes them feel less alone in a society where all they feel is alone.
When the religion of other cultures are profited on, and fall prey to capitalism, some will feel that it does a dishonor to the religion itself. Many who speak out about this phenomenon, I have found, are westerners (Americans and western Europeans) who are coming from immense privilege themselves. I will discuss this more in detail later.
I am going to play devil's advocate here and suggest that perhaps, when it comes to spirituality, it does not matter what form it takes as long as it touches an individual for the better. Imagine you see a white boy that has a necklace with a symbol of Buddhism on it. Let's say we know that he doesn't come from a Buddhist family, and he is constantly moving around and switching faiths. Some might view this as incredibly offensive and say that he is appropriating Buddhism. I want to offer a counter way of looking at this.
Perhaps this boy is struggling. Perhaps he feels lonely and stressed in a society that focuses on fast paced living and making money. Perhaps he looks at societies where people are Buddhist with a sense of want and comfort. Perhaps wearing this necklace reminds him of sentiments from Buddhism such as radiating love to the entire world, or remaining present. Perhaps he is trying to find something, anything, that gives him peace in a time of confusion. Perhaps he is searching for his community, and that doesn't happen to be where he is now.
Isn't that what religion and spirituality are all about, or should be about - welcoming everyone into your community? Shouldn't people be allowed to grasp onto certain ideas of many different cultures and religions if it resonates with them? If an idea or aspect of a culture brings someone joy and happiness, or helps them through a rough time, who are we to tell that person no? Shouldn't spiritual people want to spread their ideas, joy, and peace with others?
I think the ego plays a lot into the idea of people feeling threatened when it comes to religion and spirituality. Picture this classic scene: A girl is in grade school, and this other girl is copying her style and what she wears. She is annoyed that the other girl does this, she feels threatened. She feels her identity is threatened. I used to be that annoyed girl. I was too young to see that mimicry is a form of flattery. Looking at it now, I see that the girl who copies what another wears is struggling to find her own identity, and she saw something in me that she wanted to emulate. I did this too, a classmate who I thought was absolutely awesome started to wear feathers in her hair, and the next week I rolled up to school with a blue feather woven into my own hair. Perhaps, now that I think of it, in today's society, one might say she and eventually my entire middle school class of girls was appropriating Native American culture. Human beings are constantly taking ideas from one another, bouncing off of each other until we are a mix-mash of the world, a mosaic of other people's cultures and transformed ideas. Where do we draw the line when saying what is okay to emulate and what is not? What is celebrating the sharing of culture and what is appropriating it?
The example of a girl getting annoyed that the other is copying her is one often played out in childhood as young people are struggling to find their identity, and it is a scenario often still played out into adulthood. It's the idea that if someone else has what you have, it is somehow diminishing what you have. One person gets a million dollars, then their neighbor also gets a million dollars. Your neighbor's wealth does not decrease your own.
Seeing another person emulate you, or someone else, should not be taken as an attack. We should be limitless with our love, and see mimicry as a compliment, and be eager to give advice and allow others to do their own exploration to find inner peace and happiness. We are all given a very short time on this earth, so what's the harm in letting that boy wear the necklace? Does him wearing that necklace diminish someone else's faith? If so, I would imagine faith to be stronger than that. Someone who is truly grounded in their spirituality can't be shaken by someone else trying it out. A spiritual person should want to spread their ideas to whoever it may benefit, because loving each and every person is at the forefront of spirituality, even if sometimes it appears to stray from this. Whether someone explores a different way of life for a day or a lifetime, they have the right.
Something like personal identity cannot be threatened by the exploration of another; the two are independent. Spirituality is not something to be owned by one culture or another - It is free, limitless, universal, and personal to every person exploring it.
It isn't about spiritual people getting offended that others are appropriating their culture, I have never personally seen the complaints coming from spiritual people themselves because like I said before, truly spiritual people just want to share their ideas and don't let the ego dominate. No, these complaints usually come from westerns themselves, oftentimes who do not even have a strong spiritual identity themselves. It is the white-savior complex where we think that we have to speak up for others, without even asking their opinion first or stopping to consider we are reacting from our own ego and self-importance rather than acting out of pure selflessness and lovingness. I understand that many privileged people think that they are speaking for those who do not have a voice that will be heard, but it can come to a point where they are projecting their own beliefs and feelings onto others without actually listening to their own opinions. Amplify the voices of those who are not heard, absolutely, but it is wrong for people to speak entirely for others and bind it to how they feel about themselves and their inherent goodness.
In terms of self-help books or new age spirituality books, I say people should read whatever they want and whatever helps them. One of the complaints from the girl in the video is that Eckhart Tolle is now rich from his book, so how can he be so pure and spiritual, maybe he just did it for wealth? Yes, he made money from this book, but the fact still remains that so many people found happiness and peace from reading his book, so who are we to take that away from them? Just because something is famous does not make it inherently tainted.
I think that we should step back from the mentality of labeling things as good or bad, and understand there are gray areas everywhere. Our current society is so divided when it comes to forming opinions, and if we realized not everything has to be a stance, perhaps we would have more understanding for others. People often take the different opinions of others as a direct attack on their being. We must not attach our beliefs to our identity, because beliefs are fluid and also highly dependent on how and where we grew up. By viewing people with other beliefs, as crazy to us as they may seem at first, with curiosity and understanding, we will heal the world.
Coming from an extremely liberal college, cultural appropriation was a word I heard everyday. It was thrown around left and right, and had the same weight as calling someone a racist or homophobe. I am not a minority, I come from a western culture, and I was born here. I can't and won't pretend to know what people from other cultures think about true cultural appropriation. What I am discussing here is everyone's individual right for spiritual exploration and to find happiness. What I am proposing is to look at people adopting or testing out other culture's ways of spirituality with compassion and understanding. If people looked at spirituality as something to share and explore rather than something to covet, I think we would have a lot less judgement and hostility in our world.
New age books like Eckhart Tolle's is a mix of ideas from many different religions. He takes bits and pieces of what he likes and discusses them. Who are we to limit someone's own spiritual journey? We don't own a religion, it exists to guide people, so I propose that we loosen the reigns and learn to view people's searching with compassion rather than feeling threatened. Nothing is actually threatened, only our egos.
I hope that people can read what I have written with curiosity. Who knows, maybe someday with more life experience, my thoughts on the matter will shift. It is so important to stay fluid with our ideas of life. We have to understand that we do not know everything, and that life is a constant process of accepting our own ignorance and being open to new views. A world full of a beautiful mix of cultures, religions, thoughts, opinions, styles, languages, music, etc. is incredibly exciting and fascinating. Let's celebrate the exchanging and exploration of cultures rather than condemning it. Let's take our stances, opinions, sides, and knock down the walls.
Thanks for reading! This is a really interesting article that has a lot of counterpoints to mine. This conversation is a really important one to have, and I think that people should continue to talk about it with open minds!