I have felt similarly about spiritual influencers. Spirituality is not a cheat code, though I understand how it can feel that way. I get the sense that they are spending too much time with Right Concentration or Right Mindfulness, using meditation and presence as tools for optimization rather than liberation. But without the balance intended by the Eightfold Path, especially the ethical and renunciative limbs like Right Intention, Right Action, and Right Livelihood, the practice risks becoming another form of ego reinforcement. It looks like transcendence but it might just be performance in disguise.
thank you for this insight! i definitely found myself at one point a few years back surrounded by people who were definitely performing rather than actually living with an embodied knowledge of the topics they were sharing, which is what caused a big step back from all of it at one point so i could re-evaluate what was actually happening.
I have felt similarly about spiritual influencers. Spirituality is not a cheat code, though I understand how it can feel that way. I get the sense that they are spending too much time with Right Concentration or Right Mindfulness, using meditation and presence as tools for optimization rather than liberation. But without the balance intended by the Eightfold Path, especially the ethical and renunciative limbs like Right Intention, Right Action, and Right Livelihood, the practice risks becoming another form of ego reinforcement. It looks like transcendence but it might just be performance in disguise.
thank you for this insight! i definitely found myself at one point a few years back surrounded by people who were definitely performing rather than actually living with an embodied knowledge of the topics they were sharing, which is what caused a big step back from all of it at one point so i could re-evaluate what was actually happening.