MINDFULNESS IN SECULAR SETTINGS
But in reality, there’s good reason to doubt that mindfulness, as practised in the US, would automatically lead to good outcomes.
In fact, it may do the opposite.
That’s because it’s been taken out of its context. Mindfulness developed as a part of Buddhism, where it’s intimately tied up with Buddhist spiritual teachings and morality.
Mindfulness in the US, on the other hand, is often taught and practised in purely secular terms. It’s frequently offered simply as a tool for focusing attention and improving well-being, a conception of mindfulness some critics have referred to as “McMindfulness.”
Not only that, mindfulness and Buddhism developed in Asian cultures in which the typical way in which people think about themselves differs from that in the US. Specifically, Americans tend to think of themselves most often in independent terms with “I” as their focus: “What I want,” “who I am.”
By contrast, people in Asian cultures more often think of themselves in interdependent terms with “we” as their focus: “What we want,” “who we are.”
Cultural differences in how people think about themselves are subtle and easy to overlook – sort of like different kinds of water.
But just as those different kinds of water can change flavours when you cook, I wondered if different ways of thinking about the self might alter the effects of mindfulness.
For interdependent-minded people, what if mindful attention to their own experiences might naturally include thinking about other people – and make them more helpful or generous?
And if this were the case, would it then be true that, for independent-minded people, mindful attention would spur them to focus more on their individual goals and desires, and therefore cause them to become more selfish?
For all the latest world News Click Here
