Often I write about fun, superficial things, but today it’s time to get into something a little deeper – spirituality.

I recently heard the term metrospirituality and had to look it up.  I guess I’m not in the know about these “otherworldly” ideas, since when I tell spiritualists: “I take a rational approach – I like numbers and science”, people immediately clam up about their spiritual quest.  I’m not knocking it, really, but some of the stuff people come up with is silly to me because I like science – science proves shit exists.  I’m not averse to spiritual ideas; in fact, I often enjoy researching spiritual ideas and how they integrate into cultures.

I went a-Googling this morning and came across a little quiz, that told me this:

You are almost metrospiritual but you need a few more notches on the hipness meter before you can consider yourself a true metrospiritual. Your values are in line with metrospiritual thinking, but your lifestyle choices don’t always match up. Either that, or you just can’t afford a hybrid Lexus.

Apparently, you can be spiritually tuned in to something you don’t even know about and if you drive the right expensive car, you’re in.  I laughed a little bit at reading this – after all, the results linked spirituality and buying a hybrid Lexus.  How is buying a hybrid a spiritual decision?  Apparently buying a hybrid goes beyond making environmental sense.

(Photo from Wiki Commons)

With a little more research I uncovered some ideas behind metrospirituality:

Metrospirituality seems to be the hottest new trend hitting the streets – just like harem MC Hammer pants and big shoulder pads.  It’s a culture trying to bridge the gap between consumerism and spiritual needs, by “shopping consciously” at metrospiritual meccas.  The ideologies behind metrospiritualism affect how companies are run – from coffee companies that use fair-trade, shade grown beans to Whole Foods’ mantra: “We believe in a virtuous circle entwining the food chain, human beings and Mother Earth: each is reliant upon the others through a beautiful and delicate symbiosis.” The problem with this onslaught of metrospiritual-hipness in business is that, though there are some companies who get it right – there are often many companies who are doing it wrong.  These are the companies that care more about getting away with your money than being fulfilling in terms of your lifestyle and shopping preferences.

The idea that you can explain away consumerism by being metrospiritual also hit a sour note for me.  In this case, writer Tim Boucher was able to pen the feeling I got from this movement quite aptly:

I know, I know. You don’t care, you just want me to tell you if you’re a metrospiritual. You want me to grade you and define you and label you. You’re begging for it. You’ve been trained to desire outside validation with every fiber of your being since you were a kid. And any company or advertiser who is smart enough to recognize that can come along and pick you like a piece of ripe organic fruit.

Well then congratulations, you’re definitely a metrospiritual! Yesterday you were just a garden-variety nobody interested in yoga, organic foods, ancient South American something-or-other and hybrid cars, but now you have yourself a fully-functional soon to be media-approved advertising demographic label that you can take with you whenever you go shopping to help filter out products (and entire companies) which don’t match your life-style. What a wonderful time to be a metrospiritual!

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And what they mean by “style” is that you put your money where you soul is, and practice your religion by sacrificing at the cash-or-charge altars of stores like Whole Foods, Anthropologie, Aveda, ABC Carpet & Home, and others.

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Now, I’ll admit – I like to shop at open air fruit markets, which are mainly stocked with local produce and are abundant in organically grown foods.  I know that science has invented cultivation practices which have produced vegetables with higher yields and better environmental impacts, and I want to buy produce that hasn’t been sprayed with some sort of nasty chemical.  In all that, I don’t call myself spiritual; I call myself an informed consumer.  I am conscious about how I buy my food and that doesn’t contribute to my “higher needs”.

On the same note, I don’t think fasting and eating raw would necessarily make me spiritual.  I suppose there are cultures who fast and that is a spiritual thing, but eating only raw foods isn’t fasting and doesn’t seem spiritual to me; it seems anti-evolutionary.  The reason humans have evolved to eat cooked foods is that our bodies absorb more (good) calories and nutrients from cooked food – a phenomenon that has led to a growth in our brain size.  (Need proof?  Check out LiveScience)

Washing your four new pair of industrial cotton, toxic-dyed jeans in Seventh Generation laundry soap isn’t going to make the environmental impact of producing and dyeing that cotton any better for “Mother Earth” or “Gaia” or whatever you want to coin it.  That metrospiritual movement urges you to think green and buy earth-safe detergents – which isn’t bad at all, because it makes environmental sense to buy green detergents.  The point is, you’re still a consumer and you’d be more of a conscious consumer if you thrifted or repurposed a pair of jeans instead of buying new.  It’s totally trendy and all just marketing.

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Can you really call yourself spiritual through a practice of consumerism?  After all, Beliefnet has in depth coverage of the “Devotional Consumerism” in metrospirituality.  They even go so far as to report, “Honoring the planet, exploring, healing yourself-these metrospiritual tenets quickly add up.“  Metrospirituality is deeply inherent in all the latest advertising tactics that inspired you to buy those jeans (they’re sweatshop-free, though the company has major lawsuits!) and that same laundry soap.  It’s there in fast food chains who now sell organic vegetarian burgers.  It’s there in every company that claims some connection with “Mother Earth”.  It’s a new part of all advertising tactics and they’re telling you to be that kind of spiritual and buy their products. Is consumerism really a valid spirituality?  Is shopping a new religion?

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This article hit the nail on the head: This is a brilliant marketing move! Now not only do companies address the physical needs of the consumer, they also address the consumer’s spiritual and emotional well-being. And this is an inexhaustible niche to fill. As long as people continue to ask the age-old questions, “What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose in life? How do I find fulfillment?” there will always be new ideas and new solutions offered.   And of course, companies will be happy to provide the products to go with them.

I wonder if metrospirituality isn’t just the next step from retail therapy.  We’re so inundated with stimuli that retail therapy isn’t getting us off anymore.  We need a spiritual conquest, instead of the material so we place a higher value on the products we purchase, and underneath all that eco-conscious veneer, we’re still buying more product that still creates an enormous amount of waste.  “Fast-fashion” and even the eco clothing industries are still producing excess fibers and clothing either mechanically or chemically recycled, or end up in landfills.  An article on Waste Couture notes “There are nowhere near enough people in America to absorb the mountains of castoffs, even if they were given away.” Yet we buy new organic cotton pants and call ourselves environmentally spiritual.

“Metrospiritual culture tries to bridge the gap between our discernable physical/emotional needs and our often indiscernible and intangible spiritual needs.  By offering a piece of a set of beliefs, or even pieces of different sets of beliefs, metrospirituality promises a sense of enlightenment, of doing something good, without asking too much in return.

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“However, in many ways metrospiritual culture confuses truth and our ability to discern our true spiritual need. We are inundated with a plethora of solutions that primarily address temporal needs with vague spiritual adages.”

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So my rant in a nutshell: Metrospirituality is just another annoying tag-line used to cover our consumerist tracks and make us feel like we have a higher purpose than buying organic bread.  It’s a label on consumerism and it gets you no closer to spirituality than buying that Vuitton handbag.  Shopping isn’t spiritual.  For some it’s theraputic, for many it’s a hobby, for others it’s a way of life; but calling it spiritual is like calling the kettle a horse.  The push to buy a hybrid isn’t spiritual, it just makes sense.  The push to buy pesticide free isn’t spiritual – it’s helping sustain the environment you live in.  The push to buy organic smoothies every morning isn’t spiritual, it’s delicious and probably good for you.

“The metrospiritual takes luxury-buying to a new level–reaching outward for connection to the planet and to each other” (Source: Beliefnet).  Must we really put a label on a green-spending plan, call it “spiritual”, and then let advertisers successfully market to our newly labeled demographic or can we just accept that we’re interested in sustaining our environment and society through better consumer habits?

If you want to be spiritual, check out something like Sera Beak’s Red Book from your local library, and discover your inner goddess.  If you want to be spiritual, go listen to Monks chant, or do some chanting of your own.  Don’t shop, and let advertisers (incorrectly) label it spiritual for you.  There are better ways to address your higher needs.

So what’s Your take?  Am I WAY wrong in my assessment??  Someone enlighten me!!

Related posts:

1. To Buy or Not To Buy: Made In China
2. Consumption: A Thought
3. Manufacturers’ scheisty practices

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