The Old Practices Still Work

If I had to sum up my current newsfeed with a headline, it would be: “EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW.” Political analysts say we’re living in a post-democracy era. Economists tell us we’re in a new age of techno-feudalism. Astrologers point out that, for the first time in centuries, Neptune is in Aries. I hear a choir of voices say: “The old approaches don’t work. We need new solutions.”

Well, maybe. But we also often forget that the newness of the world is not necessarily reflected in the wiring of our human being. The parts of our brains that process love or fear, for example, have remained relatively unchanged for millions of years. And while the trans-humanists who seem to be in power think A.I. will let us transcend our biology, computation is not consciousness, which itself is still very connected to the flesh it evolved from.

In other words: the old practices still work. If your back hurts or you’re stressed out, people have been doing yoga and tai chi for millennia. If you want to be happier, meditation can help. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, because, in the end, much of this talk of newness is not new — it’s an old way of trying to get people to hand their power over to external technologies and authorities. Perhaps the most radical act of the 21st century will be to insist on being the limited, lumbering apes we’ve always been.

There’s a saying in Buddhism: “It’s a simple practice for a complicated people.” It means that, when you find the courage to put aside your distractions and face your pain, awareness itself will bring you freedom. But we over-complicate this process, by jumping from one concept or technique to another, rather than respecting the hardware of our being. It’s simpler than you think. You don’t need an upgrade. You need more consistency.