I find Bumper Sticker Wisdom irritating, if you haven’t noticed.
Bumper Sticker Wisdom is generally a short quip that sounds profound and meaningful, but it lacks context as to where to apply it or why.
It feels like something important, and the advice is often good, but it lacks the essential ingredient to make it useful:
Context.
Middle Road
Buddhism is about navigating the middle road between extremes.
The classic story is based on the Buddha’s questioning a musician about tuning his guitar.
“What happens when you tune your instrument too tightly?” the Buddha asked.
“The strings break,” the musician replied.
“And what happens when you string it too loosely?”
“When it’s too loose, no sound comes out,” the musician answered. “The string that produces a tuneful sound is not too tight and not too loose.”
“That,” said the Buddha, “is how to practice: not too tight and not too loose.”
The elegant simplicity of this story illustrates the middle road is a path between two extremes.
I envision it as the two ditches on the side of the road.
Two Ditches
Bumper Sticker Wisdom is general advice designed to avoid one of these two ditches.
- He who hesitates is lost.
- Look before you leap.
Both examples of Bumper Sticker Wisdom contain good advice.
If your problem is a lack of confidence to take action, you’re struggling with ditch #1, and the Bumper Sticker Wisdom, “He who hesitates is lost,” will help you.
If your problem is impetuousness and acting without due consideration, then you’re struggling with ditch #2, and “Look before you leap” will help you.
The only way to know is if you have context for your actions.
Bumper sticker wisdom can keep you in the ditch.
If you have problems with ditch #1, and you lack confidence, then bumper sticker wisdom #2, “Look before you leap,” will make your problems worse!
That’s why Bumper Sticker Wisdom can be harmful.
Bullshit generators
Bumper Sticker Wisdom is such a widespread problem that some clever programmers have come up with bullshit generators designed to produce it.
The Deepak Chopra Nonsense Generator demonstrates how much of his “wisdom” is merely vapid nonsense and dressed-up bumper sticker wisdom.
The Deepak Chopra Nonsense Generator takes actual quotes from him and puts them together in a random fashion. It works.
“The secret of the universe is an ingredient of dimensionless boundaries”
“Perception drives intrinsic chaos”
“The key to joy opens subtle human observation”
“Self power differentiates into ephemeral abstract beauty”
So deep.
Wow! It’s mind-blowing, really profound.
Bumper sticker wisdom.
New Age Bullshit Generator
New Age Bullshit Generator is another favorite.
Allow me to hit the reionize electrons button and dazzle you.
The goal of a resonance cascade is to plant the seeds of interconnectedness rather than bondage.
Love is the driver of wellbeing. You and I are adventurers of the quantum soup.
Dogma is the antithesis of flow.
Humankind has nothing to lose. Who are we? Where on the great story will we be guided? Throughout history, humans have been interacting with the grid via molecular structures.
Yes, it is possible to extinguish the things that can obliterate us, but not without stardust on our side. Without rebirth, one cannot vibrate. The complexity of the present time seems to demand a redefining of our lives if we are going to survive.
We grow, we grow, we are reborn. The biosphere is radiating morphogenetic fields. Nothing is impossible.
It is a sign of things to come.
The revolution of growth is now happening worldwide. We are being called to explore the solar system itself as an interface between life and hope. Soon there will be a blossoming of karma the likes of which the dreamtime has never seen.
Doesn’t that sound profound?
Bumper Sticker Wisdom, on steroids.
Colossal structures of mental masturbation
I have a close friend who is a professed Stoic.
Based on my conversations with him, I’ve softened my views on Stoicism because he emotionally internalizes it and brings it into his heart.
That is more the exception than the rule, in my opinion.
There are many Stoic writers, and I don’t read any that I like, not since Marcus Aurelius.
I find much of stoicism writing mental masturbation. Writers are living in their heads.
Missing the Heart
The reason I favor Tibetan Buddhism is simple.
It’s entirely focused on transferring wisdom and intellectual knowledge to feelings in the heart to guide your way.
When catastrophe hits, stoics will consult their rulebook of wisdom, but they won’t read much through their tears, and the words will feel empty.
If your philosophy fails when you need it most, what value does it have?
I’m not pronouncing final judgment here, and if stoics find their philosophy really helps them when the chips are down, great!
I certainly don’t want to take that from anyone.
However, if I were to advise someone on what they should focus on to clean up their heart, Tibetan Buddhism is what I would direct them to.
Heart Wisdom is superior.
It never leaves you, and it never disappoints.