By examining certain types of meditation techniques it’s possible to gauge the motivations of its practitioners. Imagine, for example, that scientists or sages came up with the following devices or techniques. In each pair, which one do you think would be more popular?
a) A meditation device that helps you gain wealth, repairs broken relationships, and grants peace and wisdom.
b) A device that reminds you of each of your personal flaws.
a) A meditation device that projects the realistic illusion that your self, your life, is eternally peaceful and blissful.
b) A device that projects the realistic illusion that your self, your life, is a death march to oblivion and nothingness.
a) A special meditation device that you use that guarantees a happy ending regardless of what you think or how much you suffer.
b) A device you use that guarantees nothing regardless of what you think and how much you use it.
a) A special device that turns off external noises and static and turns on internal quiet and serenity.
b) A special device that amplifies noises and static and turns up internal disquiet and conflict.
These are all features of the same device—meditation technique or practice—but you will have no trouble picking which of each pair sells better. That’s because you already have a good sense of what people want, what they want to believe and what they prefer to avoid and ignore.
Our ability to predict a device’s popularity is based on an intuitive grasp of the human condition.1 The degree of consistence with human preference, more than the devices themselves, determines which devices succeed in the human marketplace.
To put it another way, designing successful products is the art of catering to human psyches—our wants, fears, and needs—and avoiding their opposites—our flaws, suffering, and internal insecurities.
Any wonder that meditation products have become so popular? Gurus and marketers know how to cater to our human condition by giving us devices that promise to overcome our fears, suffering, and grant us power.
Alex Martinez, Flickr, CC BY 2.0
A convertible sports car, for example, is marketed to us with the promise that the little red roadster will boost our self-esteem, impress others, and make us happy. Yet, we know the little red roadster could crash, injure or kill, and drain our pocket books. The other side to the device is seldom presented or sold.
Meditation devices are heavily promoted but seldom presented as coming with endless conflict with a restless monkey mind, petty thoughts, and occasional psychotic episodes.
Yes, some people may find meditation beneficial. Yet, there is no denying, as we have discovered on this website, there is a dark- and dangerous-side to meditation techniques and organizations. To emphasize only the upside of meditation devices—as most gurus and meditation groups do—is to pander to the human condition and prey on vulnerable and gullible believers. The way to counter this is to think critically and skeptically about the claims of meditation promoters and believers.
Notes
Image credit: Motivations (scrabble), Nichole Burrows, Flickr, CC BY 2.0
1 The inspiration for this post came from Kentaro Toyama’s Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology, PublicAffairs, New York:NY, 2015.
Besides the possible negative sides of meditation, there is the significant negligible side of meditation. That is, the benefits touted, though possibly present, are present but with BOTH of these two caveates:
(1) a lot of ass sitting (huge investment)
(2) in minuscule improvement (little benefit)
So, hell, it might be better to think of other activity, especially since most meditation promises are idealistic self-delusion which in itself is harmful. Meanwhile, you sit quietly for hours a month reinforcing your neurosis — wow, now there is a good decision.
@Sabio: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree. Gurus and meditation schools will tell you the most benefits will come after a significant investment of time, if not, a lifelong investment of hours meditating each day. These schools want obedient, lifelong disciples. I was one. I learned the hard way there was little benefit for the huge investment. And, as you point out spending hours daily meditating often reinforces neuroses. Great points you made.