Editing Spiritual Teachers for Grammatical Honesty, Part 2

Cancelling the Second Person Intrusive Omniscient

Photo by Afthab Ibnu Abbas on Unsplash

In my previous study of the grammar of popular spiritual literature, I proposed that the “First Person Plural Omniscient” is a hallmark of charismatic speech, which tends to assume an unearned universality. I showed that when the FPPO is substituted for the first person singular in passages from Chogyam Trungpa and Pema Chodron, a hidden vulnerability and anxiousness is revealed.

The other grammatical tic that is prominent in this literature is a form of second person address I’ll call Second Person Intrusive Omniscient (SPIO). It flexes harder than the FPPO.

Here are some characteristics of the SPIO:

• It seems to address the consumer directly. This is deceptive, because the consumer’s relationship to the influencer is parasocial.
• It seems to be more intimate, allowing the influencer to seem like they know the consumer as a friend, family member, or lover.
• It seems to be omniscient, presuming to know the consumer better than they know themselves.
• While the FPPO hovers above in a moral high ground, encouraging a vague merging, the SPIO demands much more immediacy and closeness. I believe that this is only…