Western People Are Potential Spiritual Prodigies, Not Inner Barbarians

Ignoring this fact does a tragic disservice to our future

You’re living in one of the most prosperous times in human history, they say. Except mental illnesses like depression are quietly chomping down on 26% of the American population.

Social media has fractured the way we connect, replacing magic little moments of connection with discomfort during any prolonged eye contact with another human being.

But don’t worry. Modernity will come crashing down, and be replaced by something better. It’s already happening, if you can see the signs — from the Gamestop short squeeze to the quiet exodus from social media.

A yogi from the Himalayas prophecies the following:

“The world will come into a state of ‘equilibrium of consciousness’. Simply interpreted, this implies that those who have a consciousness that implores only their own self-interest will be equally countered by those who seek what is in the best interest of everyone, including the planet. Once this equilibrium is reached, the destructiveness will automatically cease and we will slowly rise towards a brighter future of humanity.” — Acharya Sri Maharshi

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, a Buddhist master hailing from Bhutan, recognized the potential of the Western world for adopting and preserving ancient wisdom by starting 84,000.

It’s a translation initiative to put the Buddhist libraries of the Himalayas into modern English. Because there’s a chance that we might be the only ones to preserve this heritage in the future!

We’re at a critical fork in the road right now

Like ancient Persia and India before us, material gain has peaked.

The way forward is either through increased military activity like the former (which leads to collapse) or renewed investment in inner development like the latter (leading to a lasting, timeless culture).

This means you have a part to play. You’re enacting the butterfly effect, right now, just by reading these words.

And I know it’s hard to see. Even I used to think it was a curse being born so far away from more ancient parts of the world.

• I’m not going to be able to study Mahayana philosophy for 17 years like the monks in Tibet.
• I don’t have access to clairvoyant cave-dwelling Himalayan teachers.
• I haven’t even found any stable community of seekers where I’m from – just crass materialism and shallow pop culture.

With all the teachings about things being exactly the way they’re meant to be, it’s natural to feel like we in the West are karmically left out of accessing higher consciousness.

But having to rely on ourselves – our own study, discipline, and practice – without very many external supports is actually the height of all blessings on the path.

It forces us to do the work that only we can do.

We have no faulty Guru to blame, no lineage to doubt, no sangha to become attached to. Just the cold, stark truth that we are responsible for our spiritual destiny.

Who but a developed mind could make use of such a situation?

A friend in India recently remarked that people whose interests gear toward spirituality (rather than pop culture) have strong past life imprints from associating with realized sages.

Just the fact that you’re reading this right now means something deep is resonating, which you can’t find in the shallow culture around you.

You are absolutely not a spiritual trainwreck. Modernity is. And you’re here to push it into the right direction, in whatever small way you can.

You have every cause and condition to be able to awaken – material sustenance, a lackluster culture, knowledge at your fingertips, a bit of leisure time/energy to practice.

And there are lineages, sanghas, and Gurus for those ready to commit to one path – right here in North America, if you search for them.

No one but a very karmically fortunate, “ripe” person is able to see this abundance in their life and use it.

Now the other half of the equation is what you’re going to do with what’s presented in front of you.

• Do you continue to cycle in the hamster wheel of stimulating pleasure and pain?
• Or take an immediate exit, by searching after your true nature – and then deconstructing every delusion that keeps you stuck in what you’re not?

Not many on Earth have the privilege to work on the second.

What if we had monasteries, too?

Consider also that Tibet and India didn’t become spiritual powerhouses out of nowhere. The Tibetans were a warring empire without a written script, before they adopted Buddhism. India took millennia to develop yoga, mantras, and meditation.

If we, too had the societal support to pursue something (anything) other than material wealth, we’d produce geniuses like any other society.

But just as the Middle East self-censors its potential Karl Marxes and Nietzsches, we in the West self-censor any potential Buddhas.

• Housing is a luxury commodity, and not a basic need or a human right. So even the middle class members of society have to worry about survival, instead of self-actualization.
• Politics is a coin with two sides, rather than dice. So our governance stays stuck in polarizing binaries and asinine myopias.
• Education is forced conditioning and almost never what it’s actually named after (Latin educe, meaning to draw forth the best out of something). So we get brainwashed into dumping our potential.

My favorite modern philosopher, Morris Berman, once remarked that in this scenario there are two options.

Leave the West and be happier, or live as a ‘new monastic individual’ — someone who rejects the mainstream, but still quietly makes an impact to shift as much of society as they can.

If we run away, our society remains confused and aimless. If enough of us transform and gain influence, change becomes inevitable.

Which one sounds better to you? Do you think it’s impossible to change a society with such inertia in its values? (I am genuinely curious to know).