Psychologist Barry Schwartz addresses this phenomenon in his book The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less (2004). The book explores the psychological costs of consumer abundance in Western societies. While some choice selection is beneficial, Schwartz notes that too many choices can lead to confusion, decision paralysis, ambivalence, and dissatisfaction.

Schwartz’s book came to mind recently when I visited the website of One Commune, a teacher-driven platform for societal and personal well-being. The platform bundles more than 160 on-demand courses, thousands of short practices, and a wide range of videos and podcasts covering yoga, meditation, breathwork, goal-setting, nutrition, functional medicine, spirituality, and environmental regeneration. Its library features an impressive array of well-known popular teachers and subject expert influencers.

In the era of ramped-up wellness capitalism and spiritual branding, One Commune represents a pinnacle of high-production value, vast choice, charismatic teachers, and light community gatherings. It’s well worth checking out, but it’s not without its inherent contradictions that one needs to be aware of.

Today’s wellness landscape can feel like standing in front of that same toothpaste aisle displaying that endless array of brightly packed tubes that promise whiter teeth, fresher breath, and stronger, healthier gums. One Commune is like the deluxe endcap display in the drugstore: beautifully designed, expertly marketed, and genuinely effective, in doses.

But no matter how dazzling the options, you still have to pick one, apply it daily with focused attention, or nothing changes.

That’s where the rubber meets the road.

Years ago, when I studied the practice of Falun Dafa, we were encouraged to dedicate ourselves solely to its teachings and not be distracted by jumping among other spiritual systems and wellness modalities. This single-minded orientation reveals something often overlooked in today’s smorgasbord of wellness options: true inner transformation requires going deep, not only wide. This single-focused concentration remains one of the greatest challenges facing individuals who genuinely want to make progress on the inner path.

Picking up a little of this and dabbling in a little bit of that can bring on a feeling of immediate gains and initial rapid progress. Yet, from among the 160-plus offerings on One Commune, each one requires years — maybe even a lifetime of dedicated, committed practice for permanent changes to be experienced.

You might feel excited to sample as much as you possibly can from the overflowing palette of wellness programs, like someone participating in a high-end wine tasting, sniffing and sipping each option with gusto and increasing light-headed exhilaration. However, without staying true to any one wellness offering long enough to absorb its deepest texture, taste, and color, your experience can become more about variety and novelty than transformation.

Paradoxically, less might be more when it comes to nurturing one’s spiritual health.

The choice is yours. Choose wisely.

At everydayspiritualhealth.com, we’re not trying to compete with the volume of what’s out there in the wellness sphere. We help people to integrate what they already know, what they’ve always carried within, and to cultivate presence as a daily practice.

In a world bursting at the seams with content, we are here to remind you that spiritual health doesn’t emerge by adding more, but from learning to live fully what’s already alive in you, the quiet within that’s always been there.

If something here stirs you, don’t keep it to yourself! Leave a comment or reach out to me at: everydayspiritualhealth.com,

I’d love to hear what’s moving through you.

What we face on these platforms is a legitimacy crisis, similar to the one Dorothy faced in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, when her tiny dog, Toto, pulls back the curtain concealing a man pulling levers on a machine next to the distorted, fiery image of a larger than life human face towering above them, projecting the booming voice of a supposed great and powerful wizard.

Dorothy and her companions were shocked and angry at the man for creating this mechanical illusion and giving them false hope in a powerful wizard they believed could grant their wishes and make their dreams come true. They immediately demanded that he deliver on his promise to help them realize their dreams. Their journey ends with a lesson worth revisiting in the original movie.

The action of Dorothy’s dog, Toto, who, by pulling back the curtain to reveal a little man running a machine that projected the illusory image of a powerful wizard, woke up Dorothy and her companions to the false reality they’d all been unknowingly believing in.

We also need to pull back the curtain of fluff, foil wrappers, and hollow performance expertise flashing across the screens of social media platforms and smartphones. We need to tip the scales away from the illusory nature of these social media “wizards” and smartphone apps, which project authority, expertise, and mastery, but often deliver only shiny tin foil wrappers that lack substance and fail to nourish the soul, like a deeply satisfying and nourishing meal does.

Like Todo pulling back the curtain, Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, is concerned about how these platforms and smartphones negatively impact one’s mental, emotional, and psychological health. In his 2024 book, The Anxious Generation, he points out numerous debilitating consequences connected to these platforms and constant smartphone scrolling, especially among teenage girls: anxiety, depression, self-harm, sleep deprivation, scattered attention, social comparison, status anxiety, isolation, loneliness, and suicidal ideation, to name a few.

Haidt offers some practical suggestions to offset these debilitating consequences, such as: no smartphones for kids until age 14; no social media access until age 16; phone-free schools; device-free zones and times at home; and public policy regulation of platforms’ influence with parental controls, among others.

His proposals highlight the need for both structural and behavioral shifts to offset the unfavorable effects of these platforms and the ever-increasing, almost cyborg-like effect of smartphone scrolling on the general public. However, we also need to refine our principles of discernment, which help us distinguish between flashy performance and nourishing wisdom in our daily lives.

For starters, let’s examine the following axioms:

• Whenever an individual speaks in absolute terms on any subject or proposed solution to a social problem, consider this behavior a red flag.

• The most credible voices use caution, not overstated certainty.

• Genuine wisdom makes way for uncertainty, mystery, nuance, and the capacity to have one’s mind changed—especially when strong disagreements rule the day.

• Certainty without humility is always the mark of a performer rather than a practitioner.

• Genuine discourse aims for clarity and understanding, not winning or being right.

• You can discern the meal from the wrapper if you learn to look past the foil wrap and ask what truly nourishes.

These six axioms speak to a path of discernment in a screen culture dazzled by spectacle and performance expertise. They turn our attention to the red flags of absolutism and showmanship, directing us toward the quiet inner authority of humility and nuance, reminding us that genuine discourse seeks understanding, not conquest.

Ultimately, these principles call us to train our eyes and hearts to look past the shiny wrappers of performance and spectacle and reach for the meal that truly nourishes, the meal of grounded presence wrapped in a sauce of humility and patience.

Each of us must decide what kind of food we want to consume. We can reach for the hollow, empty calories of cotton candy that quickly dissolves in the mouth, leaving us with a craving for more, or turn toward the deeper meal of grounded presence and integrity that, in the long run, satisfies our deepest hungers.

In the end, it’s personal, but it’s also shared. Together we can tilt the balance back toward substance, grounded presence, and integrity.

The invitation is simple: take it from here, and consider how you can be part of the solution, rather than the problem.

Everyday Spiritual Health grows through conversation. What insight or question did this essay stir in you? Share your voice below.

A few years ago, when I was trying to figure out how to be a better singer, my sister recommended a book to read. I was shocked to learn that in some training systems for opera singers, individuals were not allowed to sing any part of a song for four years—only voice training and practice exercises! Imagine the discipline, patience, and humility that it requires!

If you aren’t well-grounded in knowledge, wisdom, and experience on a given subject, but you think you are because you can broadcast your face to millions of people, this is a recipe for a poorly cooked meal that will surely cause your palate and stomach to protest louder than a smoke alarm in the middle of the night.

Author Robert Greene, in his book Mastery (2012), warns of the dangers inherent in walking a path littered with glittering performance-based expertise without being undergirded by apprenticeship, mentorship, and humility. He writes:

“The very desire to find shortcuts makes you eminently unsuited for any kind of mastery.” (Mastery, Chapter 2, p. 113)

Social media, by contrast, allows unqualified, ill-prepared individuals to shorten the required time and circumvent the slow process required for mastery. These platforms reward visibility over depth, novelty over substance, and confidence over competence. (Follower counts and clicks, anyone?) Popularity is more highly regarded than grounded authority.

Is it any surprise we are awash with echoes that sound loud but carry no depth? You need not look too far back on YouTube to see what happens when visibility outpaces depth, integrity, and grounded presence; ImJayStation, Austin Jones, Ruby Franke, Etika, and Big Li, to name a few.

Watching someone’s meteoric rise to becoming a star on these platforms is akin to what happens when you chomp down on the visually alluring promise of cotton candy—it’s big and fluffy, and smells good, but after you take a bite and chew for a bit, you get the uncomfortable feeling you've just been had!

Perhaps we are facing an epidemic of shallowness, sparks, and glitter that bombards our sensibilities, tempting us to choose the allure of cotton candy superficiality over the steady diet of bread grounded in presence, masterliness, and integrity.

In Part II of this essay, we’ll explore ways to counterbalance the social media scales of superficiality and commercialized performance, which right now tip the balance away from true weight as though we’ve been piling feathers on one side of the scale while ignoring the gold on the other.

I’d love to hear how this resonates with you. Feel free to share your thoughts or add your voice to the conversation below.

To satisfy one’s spiritual hunger, advocates of this DIY approach draw from a seemingly endless well of non-traditional wisdom paths: mind-altering drugs, meditation, somatic modalities, coaching, therapy, psychology, music, and self-help.

Does the DIY spiritual model support a spiritually rich life and society more effectively than the once widely accepted cradle-to-grave religious models, despite their inherent flaws?

The strength of the spiritual freelancer model is its access to freedom and flexibility in the pursuit of truth and self-understanding. There is no requirement to adopt a particular belief system or truth claim.

One need not pledge commitment to a particular group or submit to a prescribed approach to how one should live, think, feel, and behave—one hallmark of the three monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. There’s no existential concern about the meaning of death or where one might or might not end up once separated from their mortal coil.

Without the pressure to conform to a given authority figure, sacred text, or proscribed set of behaviors, it’s easier for the spiritual freelancer to explore alternative points of view and integrate them into one’s idea of life fulfillment.

Freelancer spirituality allows a lot of room for personal healing, transformation, and honest self-expression, but can easily slide into loneliness, disconnection, and spiritual disorientation.

The promise of personal autonomy can feel intoxicating and empowering. No creeds to conform to, no beliefs to proclaim, no hierarchy to report to, and no rigid dogma to swallow. (I ain’t got to be under nobody’s thumb—nohow!) Still, the DIY model reveals a spiritual fragility susceptible to serious challenges.

Imagine lighting a candle in a house with no walls. The flame burns brightly. It is real and heartfelt. But seeping in like rainwater through cracked roof tiles, the winds of doubt, grief, exhaustion, and distraction begin to blow through on all sides.

With no protective communal shelter, no shared mutual practices, common language, or sacred container, the flame flickers, hovering between being completely smothered and desperately fighting to stay upright.

The spiritual freelancer must create, sustain, initiate, and do everything on their own. Over time, the initial warmth of the candle becomes harder to maintain. There’s no built-in cycle to return to when you are grieving, tired, distracted, or spiritually dry. This can lead to burnout, inconsistency, and a nagging sense of drifting, unanchored, like that candle in a house with no walls. It can be like navigating with a map that has no clear paths to follow.

But is it any better within the walls of established religious communities and traditions? What is their strength?

Unlike the spiritual freelancers, the walls of religious traditions maintain stability and continuity through shared community and recurring spiritual patterns, which help support people through life’s inevitable ups and downs. You’re not alone in your hardship or glory, grief or joy—in the loftiest sense of religious life.

Ironically, the walls of religious communities can also be fertile ground for disconnection, loneliness, and spiritual disorientation.

For the first half of my adult life, I was immersed in a faith tradition that spoke with certainty about who God is, what God wants, and how we are to live. It was a faith loaded with words, imagination, and intensity.

For a time, this faith tradition provided me with a deep sense of purpose, intentional community, and clear direction. In fact, I met my future wife in this religious community, which was a totally unexpected happening, especially since I’d given up all hope of ever finding someone who would want to spend the rest of their life with me.

But this community also required me to stay in a space that gradually could no longer hold the fullness of my evolving experience. I began to sense that all religious teachings and claims about truth, God, and how the world works are simply a story—nothing more, and nothing less. One experience in particular led me to this realization.

When the news broke in our community that a highly respected and admired married couple with several young children was getting a divorce due to infidelity, I was shocked. The husband, in a high leadership role in the community, constantly talked about the need for us to have strong marriages and raise faithful and honorable children. How could this happen? I asked myself.

This man seemed to me to be saying and doing all the right things in his life. As it turns out, he wasn’t doing as he was saying. This one incident alone clearly helped me see that no matter what one purports to believe in or claim as the truth, such claims and beliefs cannot take the place of one’s lived experience. What one does and how one acts is more powerful than any exclusivist claim to truth or teaching on the right way to live or what to believe.

Eventually, I needed to move beyond it. Not because I lost faith, but because I discovered that faith is more vast than any single story, tradition, truth claim, revered figure, sacred book, belief system, spiritual experience, or institution.

I don’t regret those years. They formed me. They showed me the hunger people have for belonging, meaning, and transcendence, and I’ve integrated those years into my journey. So, I am aware of the value of traditional religions and the benefits they offer.

Spiritual freelancers who’ve yet to be deeply involved with a traditional religious path cannot possibly know what they have to offer, beyond a surface-level understanding.

Before I committed to a dedicated religious path, I considered myself a seeker for truth and understanding. Raised in the Catholic Church faith, my folks had designs for me to one day become a priest. But when I hit middle school, sports and girls became my religion. By the time I graduated from high school, I’d all but given up on organized religion, without ever having immersed myself in its teachings or practices beyond sixth grade. You can learn more about those years by reading my first published essay on Substack

Paradoxically, after I moved beyond the confines of the religious path I’d been dedicated to for decades, I once again found myself walking the path of a spiritual freelancer. So, I know this path too—what it has to offer, and what its limits are.

As a now-again spiritual freelancer, I dabbled here and there for spiritual nourishment and growth. Yoga, meditation, spiritual books, seminars, and constant study and learning on a variety of subjects occupied my mind and heart.

At times, it was hard to keep momentum, to keep up with the new rituals and practices I adopted into my life. In my former faith community, I had lots of like-minded people around me to help reinforce the same rituals and practices. Doing it on my own proved far more taxing and difficult than I’d expected.

So, where do we go from here, in the uncertain space between the old spiritual maps of religion and the new, unmapped terrain spiritual freelancers are carving out?

For many, this moment is marked by both opportunity and ache. We’re freer than ever to seek, mix, question, and redefine what a meaningful life looks like, but many are quietly suffering under the weight of too much freedom, too little structure, and no overarching philosophy of life to help bind them together with something beyond the self.

People long for connection but lack a consistent, shared rhythm. They seek transformation but find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options—like going to your neighborhood drugstore for toothpaste and staring blankly at the shelf with forty-five different kinds of toothpaste to choose from! They want to go deeper but don’t know where to start or how to return when they’ve lost their way.

We don’t need to retreat into rigid belief systems, unless we want to, nor do we need to wander alone, on a hit or miss path marked by stutters, stops, sudden changes, and potholes.

What we need now is something rooted but open, trustworthy but not controlling, a spiritual language and set of practices that help us navigate meaningfully through the shifting terrain of modern life.

This essay is the beginning of a larger unfolding, both in my own life and in something I’ve been quietly building. It’s a project called Everyday Spiritual Health. It’s a space where I bring together years of reflection, practice, questions, and resources for those who still long for depth and presence in their life.

If what you’ve read here resonates, you’re invited to explore more, stay connected, and if it feels right, support the work at everydayspiritualhealth.com. It’s early, it’s honest, and it’s being built in real time, with care and an open heart.

On Tuesday, December 10, Luigi Mangione, the alleged shooter of United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, was indicted on charges of murder by a New York grand jury. On the run since December 4 after gunning down Thompson in front of a midtown Manhattan hotel on December 9, Mangione was spotted eating inside a MacDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and promptly arrested. Video footage recorded on the day of the shooting reveals the brutality of this vengeful act.

The footage shows Mangione at around 6:30 AM hiding behind a parked car on the street in front of a midtown Manhattan hotel. As Thompson walked past on the sidewalk, Mangione methodically stepped out from behind the car up onto the sidewalk, raised his gun at Thompson’s back, and fired several shots into the unsuspecting Thompson. Thompson was struck at least three times and died a short time later at a nearby hospital.

A surface look at a “normal” guy

Mangione grew up in a privileged family in the Baltimore, Maryland area. He attended an all-boys private school, graduating valedictorian of his class. In 2020 he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with both bachelor's and master's degrees in computer engineering.

His social media profile indicates he had worked as a data engineer for a digital retailing website for new and used cars. In 2023 he underwent spinal surgery for debilitating back pain. Reports suggest that Mangione eventually suffered painful side effects due to this surgery, but it’s not clear to what extent he was suffering or how this impacted his mental health. A color photo that emerged after the shooting showed a shirtless, smiling, buffed, and healthy looking Mangione, out and about in nature. By all accounts, Luigi seemed to be a likable, smart guy, on a track to “have it all.”

According to his mother and a few of Mangione’s former classmates and friends, in the summer of 2023 Luigi suddenly stopped communicating with everyone in his circle. This prompted his mother to file a missing persons report in November 2023. On December 9 when police announced the arrest of Mangione as a person of interest in the shooting of Thompson, his family, friends, and the public, were left bewildered. How could a seemingly normal guy with his whole life ahead of him commit such a heinous crime?

Motives behind the murder

Investigators quickly concluded Mangione had a vendetta against America’s corporate healthcare system, and Thompson, the top executive of America’s largest healthcare corporation, was intentionally targeted. How did resentment and anger toward the American health care system lead Mangione to commit this murder?

Evidence was uncovered that Mangione shared an affinity with the so-called Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, who, over a fifteen-year period (1978-1995), waged a campaign of violence and murder against what he perceived as the dehumanization of individuals by the advancing technological revolution.

Some reports speculate Mangione was suffering mentally from physical pain related to his back injury, resulting in a “brain fog” possibly interfering with his rational thought processes. Investigators hope to learn more about his motives as they examine his activities and behaviors during the six months he dropped out of sight. Since Mangione was captured alive, we may hear more about his motives as the investigation continues.

Finding Meaning in One’s Life Experiences

It's possible that investigators and mental health professionals might never fully understand Mangione's motives for committing this murder. However, we can draw several conclusions concerning his state of spiritual health at the time he committed the crime.

One core element of robust spiritual health is the ability to adequately process and find meaning in one’s life experiences. Whatever difficulties Mangione faced leading up to his decision to commit this violent act, he clearly lacked the ability to process his pain, discomfort, and anger in a positive and productive manner.

We don't know what kind of support system Mangione had, if any, but it's worth considering whether he had access to a mentor or community in whom he could confide during times of difficulty. Being part of a community where he felt support and mutual accountability with like-minded people might have helped him make better choices.

Isolating oneself from others who might lend support and encouragement can make one’s difficulties worse. Bearing burdens alone, without proper tools to address and process them, often leads to greater suffering and setbacks.

Purpose connected to something higher

Believing in God or not, our lives can be enriched when we connect our soul with something higher than our own personal ambitions or wants. This is another core element of robust spiritual health.

Daily life circumstances are always changing and never stable. Individual fortunes rise and fall. One day our physical health is perfect. The next day the doctor tells us our body is harboring a deadly disease. Friends betray us. Colleagues undermine our reputation. Politicians take the moral high ground and suddenly come crashing down into a lowly pit of moral depravity. Respected institutions can eventually get corrupted and betray the public trust.

Mangione railed against a perceived corrupt corporate institution. We can understand his frustration and anger. But what guiding star was he following while navigating his difficulties? Emmerson’s essay on Nature is apt here:

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible. ---Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Experiencing reverence in our human relationships and the natural world leads to a humbling of the self, and the recognition of something that exists “greater than oneself.” If our guiding star is tied to nothing more than a focus on the ever-changing, fluctuating circumstances of daily life, we run the risk of experiencing life "a mile wide and an inch deep.”

When we gaze at the vast ocean from an ocean liner, we can see far into the distance, but our gaze is only at the surface level, unable to detect the millions of species teeming with life below. Unfortunately for Mangione, he apparently was not able to focus on a star emanating aspects of life not visible to the naked eye, such as love, joy, inspiration, gratitude, ecstasy, humility.

Conclusion

Brian Thompson deserved a better life, as do his surviving wife and two children. I cannot fathom their pain as they try and come to terms with this shocking, untimely loss. Let’s pause a moment to consider their plight and send good thoughts and prayers in their direction. We might try doubling our efforts to be the kind of individual always able to give encouragement and support to others. If you know someone who is hurting and in need of help, extend your hand, show him of her you care and that no one has to live cut off from others during times of difficulty.

In Mangione’s case, can we find it in our hearts to pray for him and wish the best for him, even as he is held accountable for his destructive act and faces its consequences? It’s something to ponder. This is a special time of year—the Christmas season—when we express a profound sense of joy, love, and forgiveness to others, reminding ourselves the impact Jesus’ life has had on hundreds of millions of people around the world.

“A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, everyone!” —Tiny Tim, A Christmas Carol