The other day I wanted to see if my local bookstore had any books on Python programming. A few years ago they used to have at least one or two, but I’ve recently noticed the IT section shrinking steadily. Today the IT section is a mere single shelf in a store where nearly 25% to 30% (by my own estimation) of the shelves are taken over by popular psychology, or self-help, or business tactics, or some combination of those. And when I say 25% to 30% that’s a fairly conservative estimation on my part—it might actually be more.
I half frustratingly asked a bookseller about this. His explanation was that self-help gurus are better marketers. Although I agree with him to an extent, I wonder if this really explains the phenomenon in its entirety. I wonder if some of it has to do with our need to fix our own inherent unease, trying to soothe our own nagging discomforts. I’d also gone through a phase (more or less mid-twenties) where I’d read a lot of these books, but self-help is one of those genres where once you’ve read a few, you’ve pretty much read them all. Many, many of these books sell advice that goes along the lines of: fix your thinking, fix your life.
My own opinion on this is that you cannot fundamentally change anything by changing your thinking about it. Our thinking only changes as a consequence of a deeper shift that occurs on the inside. Changing our predicament by trying to think differently about it doesn’t work. You’re better off not thinking about it at all. Or becoming aware of your thoughts about that thing that’s afflicting you. Awareness can shift things if we pay close attention. But that happens on a level deeper than thinking.
Ask yourself this: How many times have you decided to think or feel differently about something just for the emotion to return the next day? How many times have you tried to think yourself out of worry or sadness. How many times has that worked? My question is this: How much thinking must we do before we realise that thinking cannot solve out problems? How many self-help books do we need about this subject?