Gianni, you write with such clarity. This piece took me back to a New Age thing I did nearly 40 years ago, and your story is spot on about the ambivalence of the experience. Much of that sort of teaching comes as you will know from Buddhism, which I studied as part of my PhD. For me, the experience opened me up to myself, and I am thankful for that. However, I reckon the way such learnings have been bastardised is seriously bad and frequently exploited for gain as you point out. Excellent piece. Thank you.
Thanks again for the kind words, Lindy. I’m not very familiar with Buddhism, so it’s interesting to hear that a lot of those teachings stem from it. I’m curious — what was your PhD focused on?
Gianni, my PhD was not on Buddhism per se, but I lived in Sri Lanka for a couple of years, and it then had over 9,000 Buddhist temples. The people I worked with were all Buddhist ritual performers. So began my journey into Buddhism, which I began teaching in my early retirement years. I sometimes throw away lines like I did i reply to your piece, so I thought I should follow up. Starting in the late 50s through to 70s, the New Age Movement transformed Buddhist teachings on the mind, desire, and universal suffering, as well as the concept of no-self, into a quest for a better self. These fundamental tenets of Buddhism, in all its forms, were Westernised by key figures, many of whom are still alive today, and adopted in the sciences of the mind, such as psychology, at a time when a broader quest for authenticity was emerging. The Self Help movement, in particular, reframed Buddhist notions by secularising mindfulness (Vipassana or meditation) training, and the Buddhist discipline of non-attachment evolved into a psychological technology.
That’s really interesting, Lindy. I hadn’t realized how deeply the self-help movement drew from Buddhist teachings — or how those ideas evolved into a kind of psychological technology.
In my research, I also came across Samuel Smiles, who popularized the term “self-help” in his 1859 book — Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct. His approach, though, seemed to be rooted more in moral discipline than in psychology or spirituality.
Gianni, you write with such clarity. This piece took me back to a New Age thing I did nearly 40 years ago, and your story is spot on about the ambivalence of the experience. Much of that sort of teaching comes as you will know from Buddhism, which I studied as part of my PhD. For me, the experience opened me up to myself, and I am thankful for that. However, I reckon the way such learnings have been bastardised is seriously bad and frequently exploited for gain as you point out. Excellent piece. Thank you.
Thanks again for the kind words, Lindy. I’m not very familiar with Buddhism, so it’s interesting to hear that a lot of those teachings stem from it. I’m curious — what was your PhD focused on?
Gianni, my PhD was not on Buddhism per se, but I lived in Sri Lanka for a couple of years, and it then had over 9,000 Buddhist temples. The people I worked with were all Buddhist ritual performers. So began my journey into Buddhism, which I began teaching in my early retirement years. I sometimes throw away lines like I did i reply to your piece, so I thought I should follow up. Starting in the late 50s through to 70s, the New Age Movement transformed Buddhist teachings on the mind, desire, and universal suffering, as well as the concept of no-self, into a quest for a better self. These fundamental tenets of Buddhism, in all its forms, were Westernised by key figures, many of whom are still alive today, and adopted in the sciences of the mind, such as psychology, at a time when a broader quest for authenticity was emerging. The Self Help movement, in particular, reframed Buddhist notions by secularising mindfulness (Vipassana or meditation) training, and the Buddhist discipline of non-attachment evolved into a psychological technology.
That’s really interesting, Lindy. I hadn’t realized how deeply the self-help movement drew from Buddhist teachings — or how those ideas evolved into a kind of psychological technology.
In my research, I also came across Samuel Smiles, who popularized the term “self-help” in his 1859 book — Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct. His approach, though, seemed to be rooted more in moral discipline than in psychology or spirituality.
You read some marvellous historical stuff.
I haven’t read his book yet — probably why I didn’t bring him into the essay. But it's on my list now. :)