Patreon Preview - Spiritual Capitalism: The Trouble w/ Turning Meaning Into Money

This week’s Patreon Preview features an excerpt from a solo episode in the Subject To Change series with Candice, released exclusively on TDP Patreon. The following clip is from a 47-minute episode entitled Spiritual Capitalism: The Trouble w/ Turning Meaning Into Money. 

If you like what you hear in this sample clip, you can access the full-length episode on Patreon - which touches upon the following topics:

• An important reminder not to weaponize 'cult'ure series content.
• Spiritual Capitalism; the monetized rebellion against self-sacrifice.
• Idealism, misinformation, & exchanging meaning for money.
• Spiritual Meritocracy; a love&light spin on a capitalistic lie.
• Is 'spiritual' really even something that we can be?
• Soft-power coercion in marketing & what to look out for.
• Reality check re: the social determinants of health AND well-being.

Patrons of The Deeper Pulse have unlimited access to weekly extras in exchange for their support of the podcast. Patreon donations help keep the main feed of this pod ad-free. Sliding-scale membership starts at just $5 month.

Transcript

Candice Schutter: 0:07

Welcome back to The Deeper Pulse and another Patreon preview. This podcast is independently-produced and completely ad-free, made possible thanks to monthly contributions of Patreon donors. And over on Patreon, I regularly drop bonus content. At present, there are over 50 episodes in the Deconstructing Dogma series, where colleagues and I dialogue and heal around our wellness cult experiences in real time. And, in addition, this year I've also launched Subject to Change. This is a brand new solo series where I'm coming to you unscripted and in real time to share what's going on behind the scenes as I'm diving deeper into'cult'ure series research. Here's a preview of last week's episode entitled Spiritual Capitalism: The Trouble With Turning Meaning Into Money. Welcome to another episode of Subject To Change. I'm having one of those weeks where I feel like running away and living under a rock somewhere. Hiding out of public view. Mostly I feel on fire for this work, and every now and then I have these moments where it feels overwhelming. And when I say'this work' for me, the overwhelm doesn't just come from the next thing in front of me in terms of the'cult'ure series. The overwhelm comes from looking out at the world and seeing how much the dynamics that we're speaking to here are at work in these larger scale circumstances. Like, for example, the threat to democracy in the US, things of that nature, how these forces are active in so many places that it can feel incredibly daunting to talk about a small part of it. It can feel like, what's the point? It can feel, all the things that humans feel when they just give up and throw in the towel. And I'm kind of at that place. And rather than doing what I usually do when I get to that place and just sequestering and hiding from view until I feel on fire again, I'm coming to you In this place where the fire for the work is still there. And I have lots to say today, but also I'm really tired. So let's get into the topic today. I want to look at spiritual capitalism. As I've kind of moved away from wellness domain, I'm really seeing how and why we have this great divide between those who are hustling to make money out of meaning. And those of us who are trying to make meaning, but aren't making money. And why we have such a, kind of a dichotomous presentation around all of that. So like, if we go back and we look at religion and spirituality and how those who were religious and pious were celebrated back in the day. It really was all about spirituality as self-sacrifice. Right, like giving up one's material comfort in exchange for these spiritual rewards. Or becoming a pious individual in this lifetime so that you'll be rewarded in the afterlife. And that there was really this sense of, if you are a devout person, then you have become sort of an ascetic in a way. Like you've given up all of your worldly possessions and attachment to money, and even security in some cases, and that is the spiritual path. And then you've got this turn that was taken, prosperity gospel, which I talked about in the law of attraction episodes in Deconstructing Dogma, if you miss those, I talked about it a little bit. But this idea that if you live according to certain guidelines, God rewards those who are devoted with material prosperity, right? So okay, wait, you don't have to wait to be rewarded in the afterlife. You don't have to give up all of your worldly possessions in order to be a spiritual, pious person. You actually... let's talk about flipping the narrative. If you become, if you align yourself with this particular dogma, this text, whatever it is, you will be rewarded. So you think of like, the Christian leaders who started these mega-churches and they make a mad cash and it just is evidence of just how aligned with God that they are, that they're making all this money. Nevermind most of that money is coming from the tithes of those beneath them. It's a hierarchical set up. But they win their case that God rewards them with financial blessings. And then the more financial blessings they get, the more evidence it is that they are aligned with God. And on and on it goes. So you've got that track. And then you've got this spinoff in the new age wellness world now, where it's sort of the same thing, but it's just framed different. Like you're not following the text of the Bible, per se. But you are following the high-vibe guidelines. And therefore you have somehow created the reality of abundance that you then live in. And I think this spiritual capitalism is swinging on that pendulum from, okay, we were doing all of this for nothing. And now we're going to make sure that we're prosperous and that we're abundant and that we're evidencing god, spirit, source through our lavish lifestyles. So use your spiritual gifts and your connection with source, or whatever you want to call it, to then manifest the life of your dreams. And it's all like, capitalistic teachings, just zjuzzed up with love and light. And the reason I'm kind of harping on this is because what I have found is that that's when things like soft-power coercion happen. I talked about soft-power coercion in the last Deconstructing Dogma drop. That's DD#52. Soft-power coercion in the sense of, I am being spiritual, but I have an agenda. And so I control or manipulate you toward a certain outcome, where... I might not be conscious of that, but that agenda is operating. And, and when we're dealing with capitalism and sales. Sales is an agenda, whether you want it to be or not. It's an agenda, by definition. Always be closing, right. So that agenda ends up coming out in flowery language, weaponization of dogma, the spinning of the narrative so that it serves the end game, which is money in my pocket, for example, or followers on my Instagram. That's where the making of money or followership or whatever, distorts the meaning and the purpose. And this feels important because... well, because the overarching message is that by packaging and selling our spiritual gifts, we are saving the world. If you'd like to hear the rest of this episode, or if you're a regular listener who would like to support this work, visit patreon.com/thedeeperpulse to learn more. Patreon bonuses drop weekly, and I'd love to see you there. Either way, thank you so much for tuning in. And I'll be back here on the main feed again soon.