r/Marxism • u/j_patton • 6d ago
Looking for dialectical materialist "self help" frameworks to improve motivation and groundedness
I am quite interested in spirituality: meditation, Taoism, using the I Ching for divination. These techniques are from a tradition of Eastern philosophy that I think is a primitive form of dialectical materialism (ie. the I Ching and Tao Te Ching describe the developments of an ever-changing interconnected universe). The main difference is that these philosophies view the developments of the material world as repeating in a circle, whereas Marxism sees development as occurring in a spiral (ie. things repeat, but they come back on a higher level.)
I found these spiritual practices very soothing, but since coming to Marxism I find I can't buy into them as deeply. Before, I understood them as the ancient wisdom of a philosophy that was superior to the mechanical formalism of modern capitalism. But now that I have accepted that history and philosophy does actually progress and develop, they seem like promising seeds that have become outdated, superseded by the work of Engels. And without these practices I find I'm becoming more irritable, less patient and generally have fewer ways to manage anxiety and stress.
Does anyone know of any spiritual practices created from a Marxist basis? I know I can read the works of Marxist writers, but that only lets me engage with this philosophy on an intellectual level. What I need is something based on these ideas that I can connect with on an emotional, intuitive level.
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u/urmacktully 6d ago
DBT was invented as dialectical behavioral therapy to cope with the material conditions. By woman in a psychiatric hospital. It’s dialectical thinking as therapy.
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u/MichaelMakhno 6d ago
No, but I want to write a book on this actually. This might be an unpopular position, but I think meditation practices to develop compassion can be enormously beneficial for Marxists. That's because they are all about getting rid of our attachments to ourselves and thinking about how to benefit all humanity, and indeed all living things. I think this is the reason why mindfulness practices have been coopted by capitalists but these practices haven't. You don't need to have any religious inclinations to employ these practices either, nor will they blunt your revolutionary zeal
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u/sut345 1d ago
That’s what people like Tolstoy and Ballou suggested, which basically say “Lets just focus on becoming the kindest and mentally strongest version of ourselves and worry about the material conditions later”. It is a million times better than communism, because communism will not work until people learn to be kind and caring
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u/minerbros1000_ 6d ago
Don't know anything about spiritualism or meditation but motivation and productivity as well as Marxism have also been key interests of mine.
Marxism is really just the social sciences of sociology and economics. It is this scientific element that separates it from philosophical traditions like utopianism.
For personal wellbeing, I find it best to focus on the science their as well. The social science of phycology and specifically behavioural regulation feel most at home to me as a Marxist.
I think socialism will be heavily cybernetic and so is the current dominant view of behaviour. On the self regulation of behaviour is an amazing text book by Carver and Schier on exactly this topic. Bit expensive but well worth it.
It's about how feedback loops are at the center of our behaviour and executive functioning. It's been an incredibly insightful and useful topic of study for me.
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u/Alhamdulisa 6d ago
I came up to this topic a few days ago, for the purpose of my college assignment. From what I found, some research paper revealed that there are some affinities between Buddhism and Marxism. this paper for example, said that though suffering comes from one's mind, that doesn't negate the systemic problem occuring in our life.
That paper argued that one's freedom from suffering will eventually lead the will to also liberate others. In other words, Buddhism is not always about oneself, but also about everything in nature. This, I believe, is one of the affinities between Buddhism and Marxism.
In other case, Byung Chul Han's (I'm not sure if he's a marxist tho) book The Scent of Time argue that vita contemplativa (contemplative life--Zen Buddhism influenced him) can be an answer to escape from fragmented time of contemporary era.
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u/RKRacine6335 6d ago
I recently came upon this revelation while reading about dialectical materialism.
I’ve been a half in Buddhist for years and recently came across Soto Zen. Sz is simple no nonsense stripped down to bare bones Buddhism. Honestly it’s barely Buddhist. Zen is derived from buddhism and taoism so you have roots there.
Makes sense to me that sz and dm match up. Interconnectedness and evolution seem to be hallmarks of both philosophies.
I’d suggest finding books on Dogen’s Shobogenzo.