Calling All Inspiration/Advice Junkies.

“Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.” --C.G. Jung

Many of you, like myself, seek out inspiration and advice from various corners of the web in an effort to be happy, healthy and whole—nothing wrong with wanting to be happy, healthy and whole either. Problem is I think the constant seeking for inspiration and advice can become habit forming, rather than healing.

Which makes me wonder: Is the spiritual advice out there solving problems as we hope, or is it just aiding in the creation of a society of inspiration junkies? Are all the people standing behind various websites there to help, or are there those who are present simply to exploit an opportunity to make money off other people’s vulnerability, not unlike, say, drug dealers?

I have to admit that some of the advice I have come across seems to smack of advice-candy/advice-porn—seductively presented forms of spiritual idealism promising much and delivering very little except, perhaps, the intense craving for another hit. And therein lies the danger.

We sign up for courses to fix ourselves once and for all, to heal, to learn how to love ourselves, to learn how to love others, and while much of this advice sounds good and (at least in theory) seems to hold a certain amount of potential for transforming our lives, I have to wonder to what extent it may also exist as nothing more than a distraction—like the sweet song of the siren’s that swaddled any soul that heard it into a fatal lethargy—preventing us from ever actually taking our difficult spiritual journeys inward.

To what extent might our postmodern, new-age type advice merely be the recycled, re-packaged, up-to-date version of the opiate of the masses?

And another thing, we live in a world where the poor are getting poorer. Does the inspiration industry increasingly exist as one more luxury only the rich can afford?

I don’t have any solid answers to these questions, but as I participate in said industry I believe it is important to ask them and to frisk myself for any spiritual rhetoric I may be spinning that serves no one well.

Life is wondrously messy, chaotic and beautiful—not ideal. We’re meant to experience that, not fix it. 

Only love it as it is. 

Keep it real. Keep it close to heart and soul.