The Hollow Lotus
How modern esoteric philosophy gouges out our capacity for identity and is used by manipulators to enslave us to perceptual existence.
Opium, archeologists believe, has been used as a drug by humans since approximately 5000 BCE. Our ancestors used this mystical plant for food, medicine, and ritual. Now, we are facing an opioid epidemic. Overdose deaths involving opioids have increased six-fold since 1999. In 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, opioid overdoses killed more than six times the number of U.S. military servicemembers lost in our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The opioid mortality rate has contributed to the decline of U.S. life expectancy for the third year in a row. In 2016, there were 44,965 recorded suicides, up from 42,773 in 2014, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). There is something eating at the core of our society, and I believe the cause is a deep flaw in our philosophical framework. Leaving us nihilistic and empty.
People are feeling increasingly lonely and lost. iPhone Apps are coming out specifically marketed to cure loneliness and calm us as we scramble, frantically, for identity and meaning. Yet the academically gifted students, the most intelligent and promising youth of our nation are taking their lives. Millennials in an abundant, increasingly connected world struggle for deeper purpose. How can we solve this spiritual disease?
There is an alluring kind of neo-spiritualism sifting into the secular spotlight. A movement which began picking up momentum in the late 1970s. Popular spiritual leaders like Eckhart Tolle and Sanaya Roman are among those extending ancient and esoteric beliefs, reformulating them for a modern age. In Tolle’s writings on meditation, he impresses us with the idea of our oneness with the energy of the universe- not our mindfulness, but our presence. Or immediate awareness. Could this be the cure for the loneliness plaguing our consciousnesses?
Human consciousness is a complicated topic. In order to discuss the concept of presence, we need to identify our mind’s primary modes of operation. All creatures, from grub to cow, are capable of sensation and a perceptual mode of existence- what Aristotle called a “Sensitive Soul.” This allows them to respond to immediate changes in their environment, to be aware, and to react and move in their environment. Humans, Aristotle claimed, were not only in possession of a “Sensitive Soul,” but also had a “Rational Soul,” they were capable of thought and reflection. This was their proper mode of dealing with the world, and it allowed them to contemplate the future and come up with concepts to identify their world, and themselves, in ways no other animal had hitherto done. Aristotle might not have been accurate in his ascription of reflection as the sole quality of humanity, but humanity is indeed unique in the degree to which he is defined by his rational faculty- the achievements of the modern world are a testament to this.
And this is the key to understanding the effects of this new spiritualism. Mankind as perceptual, or mankind as conceptual. As sensitive, or rational. Tolle explains the importance of presence, of a sensitive soul, through a guide on meditation. And in so doing, makes explicit the underlying view of man and reality itself that permeate this revival of esoteric thought.
Tolle’s Meditation
Tolle tells us that “My personal history is not who I am,” and that “I can transcend it in the moment.” An alluring promise of disconnection from our past, we are curated into realizing the “insignificance” of our history. Enticed to self-administer Catholic church style indulgences. We are told to give way to our immediate perception — to ignore our thoughts — and realize the truth of Buddha’s teachings about the delusory self; That the self has no reality. In this view, perhaps we can forgive the tortures done to us by evil actors, because none of it was real anyway. We are then told that the unreality of the self is a man-made entity. We are thus guided, with his convincingly soft, smooth-as-lotus-dew intonation, to the epiphany that we are nothing.
Tolle explains that Buddha’s teaching was designed to elucidate our emptiness. To help us realize that our awareness, or spacious awareness, has no form. He then goes on to reference the Christian concept of eternity, and how the kingdom of heaven “does not come with signs to be perceived.” He explains that you cannot see it, because you are it. Elucidating, perhaps accidentally, that the appeal of this philosophy is that from nothing, we become God itself. More on that later.
Tolle continues by decrying a personalized sense of meaning (i.e. advocates the destruction of individuality) because it is “so frustrating,” which is to say he doesn’t like the responsibility that implies. He complains that it, our identity, has to identify with other things- and that it never feels complete. Ignoring the fact that our drive to identify with other things is the motor of our empathy and that the sense of being incomplete drives us to ambition and to improve our world for ourselves and those we have empathy for. That is, if we accept that reality exists, and other people are people rather than empty jars held out for collective spirit juice.
Tolle then decides to throw in a plot twist: Your presence is not your own, it is, in fact, just a piece of the universal presence. Hesitant to call this God, because he thinks this would risk us “incorrectly” thinking that we are individuals, separate from God, he explains Buddha’s reaction when he was asked if God existed. Which is to say, Buddha just “kept noble silence.”
So what’s the big deal?
Give the Devil his Due
Tolle and others are rehashing an ancient concept that encourages followers to calm down, take a look around, and be content with your perceptual existence in the here and now. On the face of it, that seems fine. Feel your “aliveness.” Yeah, your blood tingles, and your sensory network is sending you miniscule messages about your perceptions. Neat. You’re okay, you can pull back from worrying about the future for a second, and reorient yourself. A dip in the water to touch bases with our physical body and our perceptual mode. But that is not where this ends.
In our modern paradigm, I do not think that mankind’s problem is that we aren’t perceptual enough. In fact, I think that our modern culture is so steeped in immediate awareness and reinforcing of a perceptual mentality that we are, in so doing, actually causing the terror of loneliness and disconnection from meaning that is driving individuals in the most privileged place and time in all of history to become nihilistic, pleasure seeking, self-hating husks of humans. The very plight that these meditations and teachings are supposedly a cure for.
Rooting around in the dirt is not where we’ll find meaning. It’s where devils will grab your head and keep you down so they can take from you. I’ve seen the worst kind of abuse by people who do this, and then use this philosophy to administer self-anointed indulgences for their actions. To use their enlightened knowledge that they are “not their history” to wreak havoc on their victims with clear conscious. My stepfather was a self-righteous version of this mentality. He took over our house, threatened us, and stole from us. Then made us feel bad for it. It’s a twisted manipulative jerk who can convince you that you are not a person, but just a piece of a bigger entity, so shut up and take it. It’s hilariously selfish, yet pretends to be selfless. That is the darker side of this philosophy, and it’s great appeal to those who would abuse it.
Perceptualism is the promise of becoming an animalistic God that doesn’t care about the implications of their actions- that in fact, happily disconnects itself. And it is the logical, modern extent of Buddhism which is the destruction of reality and a truly selfish philosophy that allows one to protect their psyche from facing their past, rather than helping them redeem themselves, it makes them righteous and their victims simply ignorant of divine truth and oneness.
It is the philosophy that bloats egos, by offsetting them into the “cloud” — where they become bigger and bigger, and everyone else becomes smaller and smaller. Insignificant. The rest become afraid to express themselves, to have an identity- because their very identity is absorbed, every identity they can absorb, because the goal is power- to become a voice of divine truth.
The God-King Manipulators
So next time someone tells you that you just need to be more present. To stop thinking so much. Know that they are vying for a world in which you have no conceptual existence. A world in which your mind is ripped out of the conceptual and pulled into the perceptual, where you are no longer an individual with unique meaning and worth. A world in which spiritual leaders can commandeer the purpose of the divine, communal spirit- and use that to exploit you, and ironically take from you the things they are tricking you into caring less about. But which mean everything to them. For in this twisted world, they are the most base kind of materialists. The faux-Buddhists of our modern age.
Resist them. These manipulators of mankind. Our greatest power is our conceptual faculty, and they want to destroy your ability to think. Their rose-colored vision of the past is ignorant of the horrors already inspired by their ultimately anti-individual philosophy, exemplified by Buddhist god-kings in Tibet. They do not know of the forced brainwashing of children, of systems of child abuse, and those killed in the name of spreading their “enlightened” ideas. They ignore that this philosophy is consistent with all other collectivist movements that sacrifice the one for the whole. Which is palpably obvious when one takes a closer look at history and sees that in 1959 the Dalai Lama met and became a personal friend of Miguel Serrano, a member of the Chilean Nazi Party — a proponent of esoteric fascism, a movement that idolized Hitler and his ideas. The Dalai Lama also called for the fascist Augusto Pinochet (known as the Butcher of Chile) to be sparred a trial for the several thousand people who “disappeared” under his rule. Perhaps, because he believed Augusto could be “present,” and was not responsible for his “history.”
They do not know of the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Shoko Asahara, a Buddhist spiritual leader who boasted he could levitate and had other divine, anti-reality powers, in Japan, who used Saran gas in the 1995 Tokyo subway attack that killed 13 people, severely injured 50, and temporarily blinded 1000. That the Dalai Lama considered Asahara a friend, “but not necessarily a perfect one.” Indeed, the Dalai Lama said in 2013, “I am not only a Socialist, but also a bit Leftist. A Communist. In terms of social economy theory, I am a Marxist. I am farther to the left than the Chinese leaders.” The logical extension of their perceptual, anti-human teachings is clear. And it is a world of manipulative tyrants in every tier of society, in every social circle, beware of someone who tries to convince you to stop thinking. To become a Marxist husk for the divine truth of your spiritual leaders.
Instead of rational, empirical evidence as the source of truth. Enlightenment as your source of wisdom leads to a platonic, totalitarian nightmare. Co-opted by the psychopaths(about 1% of the population)in society whose biological hardwiring receives pleasure from the pain of others(and whose therapy results in them being able to better feign empathy), and those who are simply dutifully practicing the idea that people are nothing compared to their divine goal. It is a tool used to freeze you in a state of pre-human slavery, slavery to your perceptual world. And to whatever spiritual leader is imbued with the enlightened truth of that world — as in any system of subjective truth, you end up with commandments that are administered by ruling classes that impose their will on others. There is no other way. Do not allow someone to rule you.
Dirt-bound Destiny
As you might guess, this is a philosophy that justifies caste systems. Superiors and inferiors. People ostracized and slaughtered for not conforming to the rules — to their inherited, unchosen role. For they are perceptual beings, unable to know the truth on their own. (Recall the early days of Christendom for an example of this pattern) This system of belief is not only appealing for untouchables, who need a reason to live in a world they have no power to change, but for the aristocrats who profit by keeping the commoners under their thumb- and want to feel righteous in doing so. It is not their fault. Just live in the moment. Everyone is energy, and you can be happy writhing in squalor and dying prematurely in your own vomit.
It is with this idea of satiating perceptual desires and your immediate awareness that the allure of tribalism grows greater in our society. Those who are fighting to protect their base level of awareness, their mental passivity, their obedience to the group, and their desire to ignore the existence of outsiders and the responsibility to think. There is a animal appeal to our primal concrete-bound machinery. In a philosophy that idealizes preconceptual “achievement” — that encourages uncritically accepted and memorized rules of behavior, passed down by threat of ostracism and death. A type of philosophy that punishes abstract thinking and conceptualization. That ironically convinces you that being conceptual is what’s bringing you down. While pushing your face into the dirt.
Such a way of living is not compatible with mankind's greatest potential- with our rational mind, our independence and sacred individuality. It is not compatible with progress — for without reason, we would not have sent a man to the moon, nor eradicated diseases and continually invented our way into a better future. It is a philosophy of stagnation- of humans stuck in the woods, fearful of immediate threats, and victim to wild chaos. A man with his head in the mud cannot create civilization. Indeed, the philosophy of perceptualism is the basest level of man, a carryover of the prehistoric ages. Where life was hell- and mankind had to rationalize suffering, and in so doing- accidentally hardcoded himself to desire suffering as meaning.
So what is the unconscious goal of a philosophy of perceptual existence? Ultimately, it is to destroy actual human values- chief among them is the independent and rational mind. Thus, a culture dedicated to the destruction of men’s values will destroy the valuable men.
What is the Cure?
A call for presence, for esoteric perceptualism will not cure our modern suffering. We will not find meaning, truth, or purpose. It will not cure us of loneliness, in fact, it will make us nothing. Volatile vessels for other people to fill with their truth- it will make us throw-away objects, more lonely than any sad creature on the planet. Victim to our perceptual bodies, the immediate moment, and to those who would lord over us for our own good. It is a ruse for power via a narrative designed to tap into the hardwiring of your animal nature. It is an out-moded philosophy of mysticism not fit for a being who has discovered its higher rationality, who does not have the excuse of living in a society ignorant of Western liberalism. So, if you know someone with a tongue of gold that tries to pull you into a perceptual mode- be aware that they could be attempting to drag you down into the perceptual mud and manipulate you out of existence so they can take from you and abuse you. Question their motives, use your conceptual mind — and if you reveal dark motives. Do not walk away. Run away.
And if you happen to be friends with someone who is embarking down this path, make sure they can talk to you for a dose of reality. And keep in mind this quote from Aristotle to his diametrically opposing philosophical sparring mate, yet dear friend, Plato.
“We love our friends, but we must love the truth even more”
Perceptualism is the operating protocol of humans repeating the horrific cycles of history, the worst and most primal qualities extending their claws through and ripping apart our heroic possibilities. It is a philosophical opioid, a mystic, ancient medicine that we are hardwired to become addicted and enslaved to. The cure for the ails of our society will not be in the groveling life of the perceptual worm, but in the galvanized power of mankind- the rational mind, and it’s ability to conceptualize. To take in the percepts of the world and attribute meaning, to extrapolate concepts into new ideas, and test those — to seek the truth, and realize his power is unlocked when he treats himself and others as sovereign individuals, not interchangeable vessels. Our duty is to take up the mantle of our birthright and pursue a better future. And indeed, we need to be intentional about the future, the conceptual framework we accept, not seduced by the optics of the present, the perceptual. The sensory overload of the promise of Utopia, here and now, that is the divine truth imbued in modern spiritual political leaders. We must realize that the truth is not achieved by short-cut, and neither is Utopia- but it is achieved through respecting and protecting our individual sovereignty and conceptual power.
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