But what's downright alienating is not participating in the faux existential crises that often happen at work and that are pervasive in media.
A bad boss that is used to flogging people to action with mind games (whether they realize what they're doing or not) will simply label you as a problem for not freaking out when they want you to. For going home to your friends and family on Friday because you know the problem is still going to exist on Tuesday, at the earliest, no matter what you do.
On the flip side (and more commonly), we consume things and have practices that numb us to reality and make it easier to carry on in spite of internal dissonance.
That doesn't sound accurate. Are you suggesting that one would be less resilient to stresses linked to livelihood or stress in general?
Over time meditation and yoga practices should help develop equanimity extensively, a factor that helps deal with stressful situations with more grace and emotional balance.
Let's say you constantly do harmful things to other people or yourself. You can meditate and maybe get some benefit but the ultimate realization should be that you need to change your ways. That will be the only path to real happiness.
Same with the modern lifestyle. This lifestyle is ultimately unhealthy. You can build up some resilience with meditation but if you don't change the lifestyle you can't make real progress.
I would compare it people who eat too much junk food. They can switch to organic and gluten free junk food and will do a little better. But in the end real progress can be only made by removing the junk food.
Does this make sense? I don't want to pretend having deep insight. This is just my (limited) understanding.
I had an opportunity to attend a talk where a meditation teacher described his experience dealing with cancer. Prior to being diagnosed he said he had a mindfulness practice outside of formal practice where he would set the intention to be aware of mild discomfort throughout the day and try not to react to it immediately. He provided an example of becoming aware of an itch. Instead of reaching for it and scratching he would try to bring heightened attention to the sensations, discern their qualities (if they were manifesting over a large surface area or small, increasing in intensity or fading, etc.), and try to entertain mind states that had a "if this was going to be my experience for the rest of my life would I be able to make peace with it?" quality. After three breath cycles if the sensation persisted and if he wasn't able to let it just be then he would mindfully scratch an itch. He claimed that working this way, with trivial things like itches or mild joint pain, provided a reservoir of equanimity that he was able to draw from when experiencing chemotherapy and the rest.
If your friend falls in the water or is about to be hit by a bus, getting excited about it doesn't help anybody. You have do something, and quickly, but with purpose and reason.
It took me a while to accept but now I agree with this viewpoint.