The Irksome Aura of Self-Help

And the Dawn of Contemplative Philosophy

Image by Holly Henry

Strolling through the Barnes & Noble self-help section is a peculiar form of torture. But the genre, behind rows of author images with glimmering white teeth, is on to something that philosophy seems to have left behind: practice.

However banal and kitschy the tropes of self-help are becoming — journaling, gratitude…