I (was and) am so cool it sometimes hurt to look at me.
The Spiritual
Disciplines of Oprah Winfrey
Introduction
“Live your best life—in every way, every day. O is more than a magazine. It’s an Owner’s Guide to your life. Through the magazine, you’ll learn to focus
your energy, renew your passion for life and refresh your soul.” The pull-out subscription request card found
in Oprah’s magazine says it all. For
just 24 dollars a year, a person can find health, happiness, fulfillment and
meaning in their lives. Or, if a person
doesn’t want to subscribe to this publication, Oprah’s promises are also
available on her syndicated talk show and “24 hours a day, on Oprah.com.” After seeing her claims month after month (as
I subscribe to O magazine, watch her
show and log on to Oprah.com myself), I began to wonder how exactly is it that Oprah teaches me,
part of her loyal public, to focus my energy, renew my passion for life,
etc. Likewise, I wondered what Oprah
means by any of those goals in the first place.
I have always believed that Oprah Winfrey is a guru to whom millions of
women look for life guidance. Oprah
responds to their tacit plea by appropriating various ideologies and religious
beliefs and blends them into a novel, secular “spirituality.” However, I have also more recently come to
believe that Oprah’s spirituality does have definite goals and spiritual
disciplines to obtain these goals. The
discussion presented here is my own attempt to understand these aims and
disciplines and perhaps uncover what I (and many others) find so
irresistible.
Part I
Oprahism: a secular,
consumer-friendly spirituality
The term “spirituality” has taken on an ambiguous character in recent
years, with seemingly as many definitions as there are people trying to define
it. However, there is some agreement
among scholars in the academic study of Spirituality as to what it
encompasses. A good definition for the
purposes here comes from one such scholar, Sandra M. Schneiders. She writes that spirituality is the subject
matter concerned with “the experience of conscious involvement in the project
of life-integration through self-transcendence toward the ultimate value one
perceives.”[i] In other words, spirituality evidences that
humans wish somehow to transcend the mundane and appeal to something “larger”
than just themselves. Also, spirituality
points to those means by which humans seek to incorporate this desire into
their daily lives. Schneiders’
definition is broad enough to allow that “spirituality” can occur outside of an
organized religion (though she does point out that the idea of spirituality as
such started in early Christianity.)[ii] Likewise,
spirituality need not necessarily have supernatural (or supra-natural) aspects to it per se—though usually the “ultimate
value” and “transcendent” would fall into this category.
This is a good starting place to
begin looking at why Oprah Winfrey does not merely promote a self help
philosophy but her own secular spirituality and set of secular spiritual
disciplines. Most of Oprah’s media in some
way references a desire to look towards an “ultimate example one
perceives.” More often, she encourages
her viewers, readers, etc., to seek an experience of “conscious involvement in
the project of life integration through self-transcendence.” Oprah is brilliant in her decision to do
this. If the numerous polls that keep
appearing in the news are to be believed, then most people in the United States
want to believe in a God or some other power beyond themselves.[iii] Likewise, many people consider
themselves “spiritual” though they do not necessarily attend church.[iv] Oprah’s spirituality capitalizes on
this reality and she reframes Schneiders’ definition of spirituality in
language that is not only accessible, but attractive as well. Instead of suggesting that women are hungry
for ultimate meaning or bound in a life of sin, Oprah instead sells them “10
good reasons to have faith in the future.”[v] Instead of
arguing that the world is fallen and in need of redemption (and that all people
need salvation), Oprah says that the world is difficult. However, even difficulties may be overcome
and “happiness” achieved. Oprah’s
experience of conscious involvement in the project of life-integration through
self-transcendence is renamed “finding your spirit” and her ultimate value is
given any number of warm, fuzzy names (happiness, passion, confidence,
etc.).
There are particularities to Oprah’s
ultimate values determined by each individual and some of them may include a
faith life within a particular religious tradition. This is okay in Oprah’s spirituality—faith is
a good and useful thing insofar that it is often a motivator in helping one
reach their full potential and/or “happiness.”
On the other side of the coin of Oprah’s spirituality, though, one need not believe in God or any religion to
still pursue an ultimate value. So, in
light of this, Oprah seeks to create a complimentary ultimate value (in the
cases of those with a faith life) or an entirely new one (in the case of those
who claim no religious background). Oprah ultimately uses new secular language
to give a person what polls say he or she already believe in (an undefined
“God”) but also successfully defines that god as the “happy” self.
This is not the end of the story,
however. Oprah does not merely set the
god of the happy self before her fans and expect them to pursue it
uninstructed. Rather, she breaks down
her ultimate values into recognizable subsets and then lays out sets of
practices and disciplines that can (seemingly) lead any person to successful
life-integration through self-transcendence towards the ultimate value of the
happy self. Though Oprah would allow
each person (in this case, each woman) the opportunity to practice her
spiritual disciplines in myriad unique ways, I think there are some discernable
“universal” practices that Oprah encourages her fans to embrace in her secular
spirituality.
Part II:
The Spiritual Disciplines of Oprah
Oprah’s spiritual disciplines focus
on three main areas—the body, mind and “spirit.”[vi] All three of
these things are equally important and one should not be elevated above
another. Granted, at certain times a
woman may have to focus her energies on one or two aspects and be less
conscious of the other one or two, but overall women should seek “balance”
between body, mind and spirit.[vii] Balance leads to
wellness in these three areas or as Oprah would say, “leading your best life.”[viii] The first discipline Oprah mandates
then is to take care of the body. For
Oprah, the body is a sacred space, the dwelling place of the mind and the
spirit. However, one should take care of
the body for its own sake, not just because the mind and the spirit need it to
interact with the world. The mandates of
this spiritual discipline are not difficult.
First, you have to (not should, but have
to) exercise. It can be weight
training, cardiovascular, yoga or a group or individual sport (ideally a
mixture), but Oprah feels that without exercise, the body is a temple that is
not being given proper maintenance—it is instead a building falling into disrepair.
Secondly, to properly pursue the body’s wellness, one must eat
correctly. Oprah’s “correct” way of
eating is both simple and complicated to define on the basis of her printed
media. She has a panel of experts (the
“Lluminari”) who review current medical research and make recommendations to
Oprah’s fans about what current diet trends may or may not work. Also, Oprah seems to endorse the United
States Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health’s Food pyramid
and guidelines for “healthy” eating.
Finally, Oprah’s web page offers medical indicators of the body’s
wellness, like a Body Mass Index calculator and other “tests” of how fit or
well a person is by some medical standards.[ix] However, while
promoting these dietary guidelines and suggestions, her magazine often features
recipes that use a lot of sugar, butter or other high calorie ingredients
(which goes against her own experts and the recommendation of the USDA). Likewise, during her talk show, commercials
for everything from McDonalds to Jenny Craig endorse eating habits
contradictory to those her experts seem to espouse. Another problem is that medical wisdom about
nutrition is constantly changing. One
day it might be considered healthy to completely eliminate carbohydrates from
one’s diet, the next it might be considered dangerous.
Thus, a final aspect to the spiritual discipline of caring for the body is
knowing that exercise and medically suggested nutritional guidelines are not
the whole story. They are commandments,
but ones that can and should be broken at times. Oprah’s spiritual discipline mandates that
sometimes a woman must at some point acknowledge her imperfections and learn to
pursue her body’s health in spite of them.
A perfect body is not possible, but to admit this is not a failure. Instead, it is a huge step towards the
ultimate value of the self’s happiness.
Granted, a woman should try to treat her body like a temple and keep it
medically well. However, if she does
this to the best of her ability and still finds it imperfect (by whatever
standard, but especially a society that holds up emaciated models at its ideal)
then a woman has broken free of unrealistic expectations. In learning to be well and to see beauty in
her physical self for what it is (whatever it is) she can continually master
this first spiritual discipline and perhaps be happy. Oprah herself is the embodiment of this,
since she proclaims happiness in her physical self, yet still submits to the
challenges she has to face to maintain this happiness.[x]
The self’s ultimate happiness is not dependent on the wellness of the body
alone, however. Instead, one must also
care for the mind and spirit as well.[xi] These two can be
dealt with simultaneously, since in Oprah’s secular spirituality it is often
difficult to discern how she really differentiates the two. However, there are different disciplines to
propel each towards the self’s happiness.
First, just like a woman must come to term with an imperfect body, so
too must she contend with an imperfect mind.
That is to say, Oprah would propose that most people (if not all) have
been emotionally damaged in some way or another in their lives. The best way to deal with this is the
spiritual discipline of therapy. Now,
therapy might appear in many forms; however, the most effective is sitting down
with a trained professional and working through past and present problems. Many women cannot afford to meet with a
psychologist or psychiatrist, so Oprah tries to make therapy available through
her media. Her “Lluminari” team includes
mental health professionals who write columns for her magazine and web page.[xii] Fans are able to write in with
questions that are answered either by these two means or on the show.
Some of Oprah’s team have gained a following of their own. The strongest symbol of Oprah’s spiritual
discipline of therapy is Dr. Phil McGraw (usually just called Dr. Phil). Dr. Phil does have a doctorate in psychology,
but his simple, no-nonsense way of telling people to deal with their problems
is very attractive to the masses (if his ratings and book sales figures are to
be believed). He has even inspired
Sesame Street to create a Muppet named “Dr. Feel,” an orange-skinned character
(who bears a striking resemblance to the real Dr. Phil) who teaches children
the importance of talking about their feelings.
Dr. Phil’s therapeutic advice mainly centers on the premise that “the
winners of this life know the rules of the game and have a plan.”[xiii] He holds that people should not
blame others for their problems and that only they hold the power to change
whatever in their lives is causing unhappiness.
However, he does admit that people often need help in finding exactly
what it is that is holding them back mentally or emotionally. This is where therapy comes in, or at least
following the therapy-like exercises and advice found in his media (or other
media advertised on shows like Oprah’s).[xiv]
I mentioned before that therapy comes in many forms. While visiting a psychologist (or trying to
use psychology’s premises on one’s own using a book, video series, etc.) is the
best way to mine through the emotional or mental blocks to one’s happiness,
there are other more tangible means to better one’s situation in life. Here, Oprah gives people the option of
consumer therapy. For, after all, Oprah
often argues that one’s mental and emotional state is affected by the physical
state of their life. Put another
way—economics and material well-being play an integral role in a person’s
happiness. Though Oprah would definitely
say some people may be happy without material wealth or well-being, she would
also give equal credit to a person who would not be happy poor.
One of the most popular means of pursuing consumer therapy is “Oprah’s
favorite things,” a segment on her show (and reoccurring feature in her
magazine) that highlights things that make Oprah happy. These possessions might be anything from a
scented candle to an outfit worth thousands of dollars.[xv] Or, if a person’s economic
situation is in too much trouble to be cured by small time consumer therapy
(i.e. shopping), then again Oprah employs a team of experts to work with fans
in that area too. Dr. Phil’s equivalent
in this area is Suze Orman. Oprah really
admired Suze Orman’s advice because she blends money seamlessly into a secular
spirituality. Oprah muses,
“ . . . What I really do
admire about [Orman’s] advice is that she is able to get to the root of what is
really blocking you from having the money you want and deserve, because this is
a big old universe. I swear to you
people, it’s a big old universe.
Go—created to have abundance for all of us, especially those of us
living in America. You can have it . . .
the same force that causes the sun to rise every morning can get you a BMW if
that’s what you want. Really. It’s all much bigger than that . . . “[xvi]
Here
Oprah seems to acknowledge that she does believe in a power that is not human,
one that controls the universe. However,
at the same time, she ascribes the same power (the ability to earn enough for a
BMW) to a human as she does to God. She
is both acknowledging a power beyond humans while at the same time reaffirming
a person’s own ultimate power over their (in this case financial) fate.[xvii]
Oprah gives fans a third option in
her spiritual discipline of therapy.
Here, psychology based and consumer therapy are wed into a kind of self
directed intellectual therapy. This is
manifested in several ways. Oprah often
speaks of her ultimate value of happiness in terms of finding one’s life
passion or “destiny.” Often times,
people get sidetracked in their sub-conscious pursuit of this. Oprah gives them intellectual means to get
back on the correct path. The first way
she does this is by encouraging people to read.
While people should read anything that speaks to their situation and
inspires them, Oprah feels particularly confident in her own literary
choices. This is why Oprah’s book club
was born. Every month, Oprah picks a
book that kindles within her a passion to pursue excellence (in her work, in
her efforts at caring for her body, etc.).
The book club is really just a manifestation of the kind of
self-directed intellectual therapy Oprah offers throughout her media.[xviii] Oprah likewise offers her
recommendations on movies people should see, topics people should discuss and
think about for themselves (gleaned from her daily talk show topics), public
figures people should admire and perhaps emulate, ways people can improve their
homes and even hobbies and jobs people should pursue. These recommendations are offered time and
time again—and people are willing to buy en masse. I think this is due mainly in part to the
fact that it is an easily accessed, fun
form of therapy that takes place in a group dynamic (albeit an often anonymous
one, like being part of the at-home television audience or participating in an
online chat).[xix] Here psychology and consumerism are
seamlessly blended—people are given a chance to “shop” for something that
appeals to them (like a book or hobby) and then use this as a means to “live
more passionately” or “remember their spirit.”
In other words, it allows them still another means to experience the
conscious involvement of life-integration through self-transcendence toward the
ultimate value of self happiness.
Still, Oprah has one more final
spiritual discipline that allows a person to move towards complete
happiness. For while taking care of the
body and seeking various forms of therapy may take care of most of the needs of
the mind, body and spirit, sometimes that just isn’t enough. Sometimes, one must look and work outside of
the self to truly be happy. This is best
encapsulated in Oprah’s “Use your Life” movement and in her mobilization of an
“Angel Network.”[xx] The first project, her call for
people to “use their life,” mandates that people are not solitary
creatures. They can and must reach out
to the other so that they themselves may be made whole. For example—a carpenter is not really a
carpenter (or at least a truly happy, self-actualized carpenter) unless she
uses her skill to build sometimes for a person in need. Likewise, a person who is financially
well-off suffers somewhere within them (even if they can’t consciously
recognize this) if they do not share their wealth with others. Oprah lives this philosophy. Though she maintains much of her wealth
(indeed, it makes her happy and she feels no guilt about this), she also gives
a lot of it away to various charitable organizations. Oprah’s own charity, the Angel Network, is a
manifestation of her belief that giving benefits the giver as much as those who
receive (if not more). After all, Oprah
defines the spirit as that which gives a person’s life value (though determined
by each individual herself). Oprah tells
her fans time and time again that they will never really be happy unless they
give to others. She says this is true
for the rich and poor alike (though she acknowledges that it is usually not the
poor who need to be reminded of this).
Perhaps more than through taking care of the body and pursuing therapy,
in following the spiritual discipline of giving of one’s self (or using their
life), a person is most likely to encounter the ultimate value of true
happiness.
Conclusion
Happiness. This is a word I use throughout this paper,
and don’t really define. Yet, it’s so
essential to my argument that Oprah’s cult of personality actually qualifies as
a secular spirituality and to the fact that her suggestions are not merely
aspects of a self help movement, but instead secular spiritual disciplines. This is due mostly to the reality that Oprah
doesn’t really define happiness herself.
Or actually she does, time and time again, but the definition changes
with such frequency that it’s hard to pin down exactly what it is. But then, I would argue, who needs Oprah to
tell you what happiness is? Sure, she
does have her own version of it manifested in her magazine, her web page, her
television talk show. But I also think
Oprah would be the first one to tell you that it is you—and you alone—who
determines what happiness really
is. So that takes the burden off of me
of having to define the term—but it does not take away from the argument that
“the happy self” is in fact Oprah’s ultimate value, her god. Furthermore, what makes Oprah’s ultimate
value of happiness a spiritual pursuit is the fact that this “happiness” while
individualistic, is transcendent. It is
something that lays both within the human psyche, moves within society as a
motivator for human life and perhaps still somehow causes the sun to rise and
set (or get people the BMW they’ve always wanted—whatever). The means Oprah sets out before people to
acknowledge the ideal of happiness, the possibility of harnessing it themselves
and incorporating it into their daily lives, fits Schneiders’ definition
of“spirituality” perfectly. Thus, when
enacted, Oprah’s spiritual disciplines are Oprah’s secular spirituality
actually manifested, actualized into existence.
In other words, even if a person were to argue that Oprah’s media
doesn’t present a spirituality per se, the moment a person chooses to actually
follow her advice with the goal of achieving “happiness” (even if using other
language, but meaning the same thing) they are in fact moving Oprah’s secular
spiritual theory into practice. Even if
it hadn’t existed as spirituality before, it does the second a person starts
enacting it.
So where does this leave me? I started this paper with the intent to find
what Oprah was teaching me to look for and how I could go about finding that
thing. Well, now I know Oprah wants me
to find happiness (which I may define for myself) and that I can pursue said
happiness through taking care of my body, seeking various types of therapy and
by giving to others. Well, all of this
sounds nice enough on some level I suppose.
I’m all for being happy. And I
hear that life is generally better when you exercise, eat right, talk about
your problems, occupy your time with worthwhile intellectual pursuits and try
to help other people. And Oprah’s media
does a lot of good—it helps a lot of charities and really seems to change a lot
of lives for the better. But, at its
heart, Oprah’s spirituality also frightens me.
I mean, I am one of millions who hang on her every word. I, along with my millions of sisters, buy the
books Oprah loves, consider the fashions she endorses and even tolerate Dr.
Phil’s advice simply because Oprah suggests we should. And if I am willing to care about her every
move, hang on her every word—shouldn’t I be getting something with more . . . more substance? I mean, is it really healthy that Oprah’s
fans should pursue a spirituality that holds “happiness” as its ultimate
value? That’s so small, so
insignificant. God, as the ultimate
value in Christian spirituality, is not just more substantive, God is so much
more ultimate. The God I’ve come to know doesn’t seem to
give a hoot if a person gets a BMW.
Indeed simplicity is key. Oprah’s spirituality is one of indulgence and
for the most part ease. This is why it
is so popular. This is why I like it so
much—at heart I am just a hedonist like everyone else. I consume and think and help people for my
own edification. Now, Christian
spirituality gives a way to sublimate (imagine—redeem!) these impulses. But, alas, I see Oprah’s spirituality as a
trap for people to remain satisfied in their own web of sin and ultimately,
estrangement. Then again, I feel like
I’m being too hard on Oprah. I mean, she
does seem to do so much good. But there
it is again—she seems to do so much
good. And maybe she does do some, as
much as any other person can do. But is
this enough? Is this what a
spirituality, at its best, should be?
Something that seems to do
some good in this world? No, I don’t
think it is. But I will keep watching
Oprah’s show . . . renew my subscription to her magazine . . . log on to
Oprah.com. But I think I’ll stick with
Christianity to define my life’s ultimate values and see Oprah’s spiritual
disciplines are peripheral to what I should do to try to integrate my search
for the transcendent into my daily life.
[vi] Oprah.com
Spirit and Self. <http://www.oprah.com/spiritself/ss_landing.jhtml;jsessionid=BRV3E0CGNGQBLLARAYIB3KQ>
April 14, 2004. Oprah believes that
humans have “a spirit,” or a force that propels them to ask, “How am I of
value?” Their spirit is something inside
a person that drives them to find “their destiny
<
http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/200304/omag_200304_mission.jhtml > and
<
http://www.oprah.com/spiritself/lybl/well/ss_lybl_well_balance.jhtml> April
14, 2004. Here, balance is basically
defined as not over-eating, over-spending, over-working, over-exerting any sort
of physical or mental resource, etc.
<http://www.oprah.com/presents/2003/lybl/pres_2003_lybl_home.jhtml?_requestid=944029>
This is a link to Oprah’s online course and only accessible to people who sign
up for the free trial or pay for the full course for $24.95. In the course, Oprah teaches fans disciplines
very similar to the ones discussed in this paper.
<
http://www.oprah.com/health/weight/health_weight_main.jhtml> April 14, 2004. There are numerous other pages on her web
site that offer similar tests and advice.
<
http://www.oprah.com/spiritself/lybl/ss_lybl_well_main.jhtml>, and <http://www.oprah.com/spiritself/lybl/ss_lybl_control_main.jhtml> April 14, 2004 are good examples of
this.
<http://www.drphil.com/advice/advice.jhtml?contentId=082802_lifestrategies_formulaforsuccess.xml§ion=Life%20Strategies>
April 14, 2004
[xv] One example of this, though her show, web
site and magazine are full of them, can be seen on the cover of the March 2004
issue of O: The Oprah Magazine. A headline for a feature highlight reads How to be happier: Life-changing tools, tricks, shortcuts,
breakthroughs—and, of course, shoes.
This whole issue of the magazine has a theme about how buying new shoes
really is a road towards happiness.
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