why Kapil Gupta says it's all a scam
reflecting on Kapil Gupta's interview on the Crazy Wisdom podcast
Listen to Kapil Gupta’s Interview on Crazy Wisdom
Prescriptions
A prescription is essentially a “how to” or a “Do X to get Y.”
“Anything that arises by way of prescription, no matter how truthful it may be, in the very moment it becomes prescribed, it loses all its value”
Tips and tricks, shortcuts devoid of meaning, or of a why, those are the problem. Let’s say you have insomnia and want to sleep at night. And Metaphysical Megan (an IG influencer) is your spirit animal. She puts you on to this thing that’s supposed to help you sleep called Perineum Sunning, aka blasting your butthole with sun rays. QED*. Here’s another example. Let’s say it’s spring and you want to be ready for hot girl summer. You buy an Apple Watch and do a 30-day squat challenge you found on Pinterest. That doesn’t make you the type of person who maintains a summer body. And you may indulge in other behaviors that hinder your goal, like eating 4 twinkies a day, because you don’t have all the necessary information.
Results are results...but if you adopted the prescription merely because it was backed by an influencer, or because it was advertised on TV, the authority becomes the truth instead of the truth being the authority. You prioritize the messenger over the message, which can lead to grave consequences, which you know if you’ve seen the documentary The Great Hack on Netflix or are part of a minority group.
“Monks meditate for 12-15 hours a day. Are they Buddha? No. What’re your measly 20 minutes going to do?”
Meditation is a prescription if you’re doing it because others are or because some pundit said it was good. It’s ultimately ineffective unless you know why you're doing it and how it works. Even though Gupta downplays meditation, it’s been proven to promote focus and peace of mind while combatting stress. Prescriptions need evidence behind them.
He even says the only reason his teachings have value is that there is evidence. If you are the type of person who doesn’t value evidence, facts, or logic, it wouldn’t take much effort for someone to manipulate your emotions to influence you to do things you’d never believe you were capable of.
Everyday Enlightenment
“I think it’s irrelevant what enlightenment is. I think it’s far more relevant to see truth as your feet touch the ground in your daily life in whatever it is that you do, whatever it is that you’re pursuing. That is your enlightenment.”
There are incredible people all over the world who have dedicated every ounce of their being and mental capacity for the benefit of society. Chasing a better future for everyone. That’s important. Human’s ability to think abstractly and manifest fantasies of their mental creation is one of the traits which has allowed us to be the advanced beings we are.
It’s easy for an ambitious person to get so caught up in their goals or the chase (wealth, status, power, freedom, etc) that they lose sight of the here and now. But eventually, the chase has to come to an end. There is this balancing act we have to play between sacrificing today for tomorrow and living with our mortality in mind.
Similarly, when the idea of reaching Nirvana is first planted in your mind, it’s difficult to not dream about it and not want to chase it. Life happens fast it often causes a buildup of emotional baggage, unresolved situations, and unprocessed events, like an email inbox with unread mail dating back 5, 10, 20 years ago. When you take the time to process those things, the truth begins to reveal itself.
See the truth in yourself. See the truth about the people around you and your relationships with them. Seek the truth out about the world you live in. This is a prescription for deeper understanding, for higher consciousness.
Is Everything A Lie?
“If something worked it wouldn’t be institutionalized. Only lies are institutionalized.”
If you were in the California Gold Rush and you found gold, would you have gone on social media to broadcast it to the entire world? No, you’d want as few people to know so you can maximize your potential gains. You might even put out fake news to distract others while you stack your gold sack.
Before 2018, the Texas Board of Education downplayed slavery’s role in the founding of the United States by calling them “workers” instead of slaves. Outside of the home, public grade school is where a child’s foundation is built—where they learn the truth about themselves, others, and the world. Remember, the winners of history are the ones that write the narrative.
So no, not everything is a lie. But it might be smart to question things you just know to be true. Just because it was told to you, or you heard it on a loudspeaker (TV, social media, etc), that doesn’t make it true. Which is why you must seek the truth.
* for you normies out there, QED is an abbreviation of the Latin words "Quod Erat Demonstrandum" which loosely translated means "that which was to be demonstrated". It is usually placed at the end of a mathematical proof to indicate that the proof is complete.