The search for a deeper meaning is the shibboleth of our times. Most people, thanks to today's hectic pace of life and stressful existence, are only too eager to jump on to the self-help bandwagon
This is the age of instant nirvana for the ubiquitous, all-pervading self-help, or New-Age, books. The self-help assemblage covers a broad spectrum of publishing, or a dizzying plethora of topics, that gets marooned under its own weight - business, management, self-improvement, psychology, health and fitness, including fiction. Interestingly, the self-help medley is also used to link philosophy, religion, spirituality, and other disciplines that mirror a specific process of thought and interpretation. They are all part of a counterculture - a step within, or outside of mainstream publishing.
The self-help alchemy is deemed to be a holistic web of knowledge, with a fundamental spoor of spirituality running through it - of ideas integrating people and disciplines. This includes diverse subjects, traditions, and practices - Eastern and Western - that appeal to a host of cultures. This also filters down to a question of liking - of making a choice from the profusion based on personal beliefs, including a subjective frame. Of what strikes one as 'powdery,' or hogwash, is an oracle to another.
The self-help boom has been the biggest publishing phenomena for decades in the West. It's caught up elsewhere - not just the Indian subcontinent. There's not a single individual who hasn't heard of the likes of Dale Carnegie, N V Peale, and Napoleon Hill, of yore, or Stephen Covey, James Redfield, Kenneth Blanchard, Deepak Chopra, et al, even if one hasn't read a word about them. By the same token, the widening acceptance of complementary health practices is sweet moolah for many publishers - acupuncture, Ayurveda, biofeedback, herbal medicine, homeopathy, I Ching, qigong, mind/body medicine, reflexology, reiki energy healing, etc. You name it, and you've a book on the subject.
It's true that identities, in the category, are also changing all the time, thanks to a select group of authors who do not want to carry the self-help label on the blurb. Hence, you now have more standard categories on the back cover: psychology, yoga, spirituality, etc. Because, some people are driven to self-help books for the sake of guidance, also curiosity, or counselling and self-improvement? Yes. Also, a few are just overexcited. They may go to any extent to follow every detail explained in a book, no matter the given situation, or context.
One may admit that there are several books that could be more than useful to the novice and the professional alike. But, the only thing is one has to choose, and not get carried away with endorsements. New books on spirituality are dime a dozen - and, not without reason. Don't we all know of people, especially the affluent, who find solace in them, because they often lead 'difficult' lives? As a long-time, self-help-enthusiast put it, "There's nothing wrong - if a book can provide a ray of hope to anyone in distress, why not?" He asks, "Isn't this a wonderful way of doing social service?"
The self-help/New-Age concept is as old as the hills. Today, the idea is nothing short of a revival of everything that is old and new, a back-to-the-future sort of integrated vision. It has a meaning of its own too, because people would like to know about what you know put differently. It has evolved, and now you are witness to people moving beyond popular perceptions to a far deeper plane - a passion for old texts, or inputs, with a new thought, or twist.
The search for a deeper meaning is the shibboleth of our times. Most people, thanks to today's hectic pace of life and stressful existence, are only too eager to jump on to the self-help bandwagon. It's a sort of a developmental cycle. Take for instance, the "Chicken Soup" series - bestsellers all. They are decent books, all right. A great brand equity in the West. Not so much for the Indian audience, or so you thought. But, they're selling like hot cakes. Because, people want to be associated with the motif of such inspiring stories sticking on their face.
Self-help books - Mahatma Gandhi, it's said, or acknowledged, was fond of them - have a normal way of looking at reality in the eye. Not always, of course. Take for example a category that you just can't label as fiction, truth, or non-fiction. Redfield's fascinating "Celestine" books would be a perfect case in point. They have it in them more than something to catapult people inward, whence they could explore their inner selves. When they do that, they'd want to tell the story of what they found on their inward sojourn. Redfield has achieved that prospect in the best manner possible - simply, sensibly, and without jargon.
Not that there's zero confusion about the tag, New-Age. It's a classy dilemma when it comes to picking books on psychology, spirituality, and ethnic influences, aside from paranormal phenomena, including near-death experience, which is gaining new ground with several publishers - big and small. Besides, you've books on harmony, viz., Vastu Shastra, and Feng Shui - the Chinese art of balancing spiritual energy through proper positioning and alignment in architecture and design - not to speak of astrology, palmistry, crystal cure, musicology, or think of what you may. Synchronicity is the name of the game, and this goes beyond the occult into Tarot card sets and books too.
That a majority of readers are looking for more and more self-help/how-to spirituality books is not just a fad. Such books are only growing from strength to strength, thanks to spiritual teachers who claim to have reached a 'state' of enlightenment, or 'deep insight.' They carry a message, or beacon of hope, - of an idea whose time has come. Reason? Most of us want tools and resources that add to our own sense of balance and well-being - to bring a deeper meaning and purpose to our life. Self-help books are a cool way of doing it - what with their easy-to-follow, 'scratch-card' remedy to stress, angst, or adversity.