Copyright scoop
The world’s leading progressive newspaper featured an article today, “The best meditation apps to quit doomscrolling and find peace instead.” It’s a tour de force of what meditation is not. You know we’re in deep doo-doo when a technology writer “tests meditation apps with two devices to compile a comprehensive roundup of the best meditation options available in 2025.” So from the rodeo capital of the west, let’s see if there’s any wheat in this mound of chaff. The author begins with a section entitled “Why you should trust me.” Whenever someone lists reasons you should trust him, you can be certain that you can’t. Hilariously, the author’s main reason is: “I was trained in 2016 in Transcendental Meditation by a certified instructor, and have been practicing this style of meditation on a daily basis ever Transcendental meditation, or “TM,” was the original meditation con-job from India. Imported to the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1959, it was the technique the Beatles used during their spiritual stint on the subcontinent in 1968. Entering college in 1970 as green-behind-the gills 17-year-old freshman, a friend and I signed up for a TM course and paid the $35 fee. (It’s now between $500-1000 USD, depending on income.) ushered into a darkened room with Indian motifs one-by-one and given our own personal mantra. There was a brief instruction on how to repeat the sound for 20 minutes twice a day, and we were told that this was our special mantra, chosen after careful personal evaluation. We had to solemnly promise never disclose it to anyone under pain of TM excommunication. For some months my friend and dutifully followed the meditation technique, and for a while it did produce greater calm and focus. But as the effects waned, we grew skeptical, and one day we shared our secret mantras. They were the same… “i-ing,” with the last syllable accented and drawn out. The scam was exposed, and we dropped TM. We realised that repeating ‘coca-cola’ produced the same mildly hypnotic So after over 50 years to learn this scam is still running, and a “certified TM instructor” propagating the same silly technique to the gullible, is very dismaying. It’s no wonder that the author is shilling for meditation apps like “Calm,” which sells for just “$16.99/month or $79.99/year (prepaid).” Or that the reason Calm is the number one app to his flat-screen mind is that “there’s something in here for Not all meditation apps charge a fee, but none have anything to do with actually meditating. The tech-writer also praises a free, Australian app that’s a full-service life coach, with “options that include better sleep, managing stress, developing mindfulness, boosting mental fitness, fostering relationships, managing emotions, living meaningfully and enhancing focus.” What more could a body ask Lest he commit the sin of ignoring the latest craze, kudos are also given to an app that offers an “empathic, AI-driven companion that lets you privately discuss your thoughts and feelings.” If you buy that, I’ve got a London bridge in the Arizona desert you would probably be interested in. Of course, “if you prefer a human touch, for an additional fee, the app can connect you with a licensed mental health coach or therapist via live video chats.” The entire wellness racket now extends to “life coaches” and even formerly serious therapists that “chat” for likes and a fee. The AI bubble has become very large indeed. I could go on, but the article is so disheartening that I need to go outside and Even the bit on a Zen “guided meditation via a Plum Village app (derived from the Buddhist Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh) leaves a hollow feeling. meditation” is an oxymoron. If you need another person, however “certified,” to guide your meditation, you’re pursuing the antithesis of true meditation. By whatever name, the only requirement is being self-knowingly and passively aware of what one is thinking and feeling in the moment. Meditation is a never-ending journey that only you can take as both pupil and teacher. Another false premise of so-called meditation as it’s taught and sold in the west is the idea that “meditators ought to close their eyes, clear their mind, and temporarily block out the outside world.” Not only does such foolishness reinforce duality, beginning with the division between the inner and outer. Such nonsense upholds the effort and will of the illusorily separate self, through the mindless injunction to “clear the mind.” To “block out the outside world” is an act of resistance that actually encourages doomscrolling and denies “finding Resisting authoritarianism, including civil disobedience, is necessary. But inwardly, resistance is conflict, and “blocking out the outside world” is deeply Besides, there is no such thing as “the outside world.” To block out the world is to separate oneself from humankind in a futile pursuit of personal peace, and thereby contribute to the fragmentation of the earth and humanity. When this level of articles about the inward life is the norm even in the most progressive, non-paywall, legacy newspaper, it is no wonder journalism is in such a crisis. Be that as it may, given all the scams and crap online, individuals who want to go deeper than coca-cola mantras, “guided meditations,” and non-existent personal peace need to be much more discerning. Techniques and methods are antithetical to meditation. You don’t need an instructor, just begin in a safe, quiet spot of nature if you have access to one, and passively but intensely watch the movement of your own mind and heart in the mirror of nature. © Scoop Media
