Even though I’m the guy who wrote the essay “Why I Don’t Pray” in the pamphlet “UU Views of Prayer,” I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer recently. Not because I’ve started praying (I haven’t), but more because I’m sick of hearing about the alleged virtues of meditation and mindfulness. You see, meditation and mindfulness are being coopted by consumer capitalism: Meditation will improve worker productivity! Mindfulness will help your children get better grades! And if you work more, or get good grades and go to college, you will be able to buy more!
These are fairly recent developments for meditation and mindfulness. Prayer, on the other hand, got coopted by consumer capitalism a few decades ago. Prayer is an integral part of the “Prosperity Gospel,” a mutant offspring of Christianity and consumer capitalism which holds that if you believe in God and pray and give generously to your church then you will get rich. While I try to be tolerant of other people’s religious beliefs, the Prosperity Gospel is bullshit. And it’s clear clear to me that meditation and mindfulness are on track to being coopted in the same way prayer was: soon we will faced with the spectre of the Prosperity Dharma.
Unitarian Universalists have developed some standards and best practices that have tended to insulate us from the worst excesses of the Prosperity Gospel. It is worth reviewing what those are:
1. Prayer is not going to make you rich; some people who pray might get rich, but that’s random chance. (In fact, the same can be said of religion in general.)
2. If prayer works for you, go for it. If prayer doesn’t work for you, then don’t — AND don’t be an asshole and make fun of people who find that prayer works for them.
3. Unitarian Universalists generally agree with Jesus when he says in the Bible, “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray on the street corners to be seen by others” (Matt. 6:5). In other words, it’s fine if you pray but don’t be a show-off. In fact, don’t be a show-off with any spiritual practice.
4. We do not have to bow our heads during prayer (see previous point). If you want to, that’s fine, but you don’t have to.
Why is it worth reviewing these standards and best practices? Because they can also be applied to meditation and mindfulness. And meditation and mindfulness are coming ever closer to breeding their own mutant offspring with consumer capitalism. And the last thing we need is to be taken over by the Prosperity Dharma.
“While I try to be tolerant of other people’s religious beliefs, the Prosperity Gospel is bullshit” made my day.
You probably know, being widely read in religion, that there is a branch of Buddhism that is pretty much the Prosperity Dharma: Nichiren, which appears in the US as Soka Gakkai. The emphasis on “chant this mantra and material wealth will come your way” seems to be to be at odds with the core Buddhist teachings of non-attachment. The “Middle Way” is not ascetic, but it does teach a wariness of all forms of desire, including the desire for money. The heart of Buddhism is about relinquishing desires, not fulfilling them, which the Buddha taught was pointless.
Amy, good point. Sokka Gokkai is often classed as a new religious movement rather than as a branch of Buddhism — but it could be argued that some Prosperity Gospel churches should also be classed as new religious movements rather than as strictly Christian groups.