Recent chats
inspired me to pull together some thoughts on how I might help to make the
world a better place. The short answer is to ‘promote mindfulness’. A slightly longer
answer is presented in what follows with lots of footnotes to help with digging
deeper.
[Note I cannot get the footnotes to jump in this blog. A doc version of the article is available HERE]
[Note I cannot get the footnotes to jump in this blog. A doc version of the article is available HERE]
Facilitation
of the process might revolve around my acronym of STEEPLES – Social,
Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political, Legal, Ethical and
Spiritual. I have a website[1]
that expands on a way of thinking which could be seen as systematic, holistic,
interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder[2].
The new word for that way of working is consilience[3].
My main focus these days is with the ethical and spiritual dimensions as these
generate the values that ultimately govern people’s decisions and behaviour
During
these last few years I have been trying to better understand my ‘spiritual’
journey[4].
The word ‘spiritual’ has so many meanings that I do not like to use it. I
prefer to focus on the means of changing what people value and what they
consider to be their purpose for being on the planet. I have a blog dedicated
to the idea of Changing Minds[5]. Note that Howard Gardner’s otherwise excellent
book on ‘Changing Minds[6]’
does not address the notion of mindfulness.
This issue could
easily become an academic and intellectual debate. People hold on to their
familiar certainties and habits. There is need of a paradigm shift[7].
What we need is a system that allows people’s egos to “go to pieces without
falling apart”[8] ie to accept the self and
its associated world view as an ongoing process rather than as an abiding
reality.
And there
is such a system – they call it “mindfulness”. As a means of cleansing the
doors of perception[9] it has been around in the
east for almost 3000 years. S.N. Goenka[10]
who died recently at the age of 90 did much to introduce the practice to people
from all walks of life.
Mindfulness
is now being culturally transformed in the west as variations on the theme of
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR[11]).
The technique was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn[12]
in the 1970s and it is now used in schools, prisons, the army and as a potent
component of therapeutic systems in mainstream medicine.
As a
technique it is very simple. Kabat-Zinn reckons that “Mindfulness means paying
attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non judgmentally.”
Dogen Zenji, a 13th century monk, reckoned that all that is needed
is to ‘just sit’ and ‘drop off body and mind’.
But there
are at least two other emergent lines of thought. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs pointed to the notion of Self-Actualization and Self-Transcendence[13]. This led to the notion of a
positive psychology that focuses on the supernormal rather than the subnormal.
This led to the ideas of flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi), flourishing (Martin
Seligman) and the art and craft of happiness[14].
Another
potent line of thought links the work of neuroscientists[15]
with that of evolutionary psychologists[16].
The human mindbrain is modular. Different modules evolved at different times in
the long history of life on planet earth. And in humans the hard wiring of the
nervous system is relatively less than in other animals. We react and respond
as a result of our genetic nature being influencd by our cultural nurture[17].
But still there is ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ thinking[18].
By taking
time to notice how and why we think, feel and talk we inevitably develop
compassion for ourselves and for others within our ingroup and even for those
in the outgroup[19]. There is the challenge
of working towards a bigger us. Ken Wilber[20]
has set the demanding vision of 'No boundary'. We all have boundaries but, by
taking thought, we can reset them in a way that allows us to have a wider and
deeper sense of belonging.
SO – by gathering
together old and new ideas about mindfulness, and by making them freely available
in a user friendly package, I can help to make the word a better place.
[2] Minu Hammati (2002)
Multi-Stakeholder Processes - Beyond Deadlock and Conflict - http://www.wageningenportals.nl/sites/default/files/resource/multi_stakeholder_processes_for_governance_and_sustainability_hemmati_2002.pdf
[3] Edward O Wilson (1998)
Consilience – The Unity Of Knowledge
[6] Howard Gardner (2004)
Changing Minds – the art and science of changing our own and other people’s
minds
[8] Mark Epstein (1998) Going
to pieces without falling apart – a Buddhist perspective on wholeness
[9] Aldous Huxley(1954) The Doors
of Perception
[14] Jonathan Haidt (2006) The
happiness hypothesis – putting ancient wisdom and philosophy to the test of modern
science. AND Richard Layard (2011) Happiness - lessons from a new science
[15] Richard Davidson is the
most notable neurologist observing the brains of meditators
[16] Eg John Tooby and Leda Cosmides
[17] Nature/nurture debate
options -
[18] Daniel Kahneman (2011)
Thinking fast and slow
[19] Rick Hanson (2009)
Buddha’s Brain – the practical neuroscience of happiness, love and wisdom
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