Mindfulness methodology

Mindfulness methodology and the big village

This is a story about how I think, feel and write these days. I realize that the scientific way of writing is powerful, but I feel that it can sometimes be too formal and rigorous for its own good.

If my writing is to change how other people think, feel and act then I have to consider my style and how I will make the writing available.

I trained as a scientist and learned to write like one. But, when I write for the general public, I would be wise to write like a journalist. This would call for simple vocabulary with short sentences and paragraphs. And I can add ‘human interest’ by including the ‘reported speech’ of an ordinary person who is affected by the proposal. And, while walking down the street talking to himself, Professor Knowall was heard to say, “You can also quote experts as this can help to avoid the passive voice”.

During my working years as a teacher and facilitator of learning my main task was to find effective ways to condition and change minds – both mine and those of other people. The underlying logic is set out in the preamble to the Unesco constitution –

“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed”.

Or, in its up to date version, – “for it is in the minds of men and women that the defenses of peace and the conditions for sustainable development must be built.”


I have worked near the cutting edge of third world development since the 1970s. In the early years my focus was on formal education. My later focus was on preparing plain language versions of official government documents. The theory was that this would ensure more meaningful participation of the ordinary people in the development process.

But during my 40 years of engagement the rich got richer. Today the wealth of the 85 richest individuals on the planet is equal to the wealth of the 9 billion poorest people. This obscenity developed on my watch. I was part of the problem rather than being a part of the solution.

So what was to be done?

As mentioned above, I saw the need to change minds – both mine and other peoples’. And it seemed reasonable to “let it begin with me”.

But how?

I first pushed the intellectual possibilities to their systematic and multidisciplinary limits by way of clarifying WHAT needs to be done. And then, crucially, I tried to harness the spiritual and religious tendencies of key human mindbrains to establish sets of beliefs and values that clarify WHY things need to be done.

My first response was to expand the development planning skeleton. Official thinking gave us the bottom line (economic (profit)) and the triple bottom line (economic, social, and environmental (ESE)). This marked a move towards a more holistic and systematic way of thinking.  But most of the fine words were rhetoric which did little to change the reality. The rich got richer!

The acronym expanded while I worked with the Tanzanian Civil Society Organisation - Hakikazi Catalyst. It became an eight point system - STEEPLES (social, technological, environmental, economic, political, legal, ethical, spiritual).

The PLES additions were to ensure open discussion of the rhetoric v reality issue. It is not enough to deal with the WHAT and to sweep the WHY under the carpet. Cultural beliefs and values underpin the development thinking of oppressors as well as of the oppressed.

Note that most Tanzanians could see the point of including the PLE areas but there was unease about having the spiritual issue as a separate topic. The feeling amongst key thinkers was that ‘spiritual’ was a subset of ‘social’ and that it had best be considered by anthropologists. (For more about the STEEPLES issue see https://sites.google.com/site/steeplessrds/ )

>>>>>
About fifteen years ago I took up the challenge of dealing with the ‘spiritual’ issue from both objective (thinking) and subjective (feeling) points of view. I noted with regret that the Unesco rhetoric, and that of most other multilateral and bilateral agencies, sidestepped the essential but tough spiritual/religious themes. So, when I set out on the quest, as far as I could tell, I was on my own with an over-developed thinking capacity and an under-developed feeling one.

So how did I redress the balance between thinking and feeling?

There seemed to be an answer in the ancient meditation practice known as ‘mindfulness’. Western forms of the practice were being developed and were quickly becoming popular. The idea is to sit quietly and notice what you notice and think about what you are thinking. The unreal nature of your worldview and your ego becomes apparent, and wisdom, compassion and peace develop.

A major Western form of practice is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).  It was developed in the 1970s by Jon Kabat-Zinn. The exotic Buddhist trappings have been removed leaving the essence which is a psychology of perception.

A typical MBSR course includes a weekly evening session for eight weeks and then a longer plenary session. I took part in an MBSR course about a year ago. Participant evaluations showed a high level of stress reduction during and shortly after the course. Many participants built mindfulness meditation into their daily routines.

Neurologists with their evolving range of scanners can now show that the brains of experienced meditators are different from those of ordinary folk. Even after only eight sessions of MBSR changes can be identified in the brain. Neurology now supports the ancient findings of meditators that the mind and the brain are in intimate contact and that changing one results in changes in the other.

There is good news. When the minds of meditators change it is invariably towards the self-less good (eg wisdom, compassion and peace) rather than towards the self-ish bad (eg anger, greed and lust).

There is more good news. Regular meditators are able to distance themselves from the facts and feelings that appear in their attention centres. They lose all pathological attachments to instincts, intuitions, beliefs, values and worldviews. They exude tolerance and peace. They are especially useful during processes of reconciliation.

There is also possible bad news. Human beings seem hard wired to recognise the duality of them/us. There are different ethics for dealing with the in-group and the out-group. Members of out-groups can be dealt with very harshly.

However, the title of Steven Pinker’s latest book is “The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence In History And Its Causes”. Pinker suggests that the chances of being murdered have decreased remarkably since ancient times.

There is thus more good news. The boundaries appear to be flexible and, through meditation, they can be pushed out into the solar system. For more on this theme see Ken Wilber’s “No Boundaries” where the expanding horizon covers “me – us – them – it”.

>>>>>
To change my own mind I have practised mindful sitting. This has been almost daily on my own for 17 years, and weekly with my Sangha for 10 years. I have also attended a wide range of weekend retreats. In the early years I followed the Zen tradition – mainly of Dogen. Since joining the Sangha I have followed the teachings of the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hahn.

Intellectually and emotionally I have addressed the Eastern and Western literature on a heady but soulful mix of mindfulness, evolutionary psychology and neuroscience. It has been quite a journey. A key outcome of regular meditation is an appreciation of the ‘Oneness’ and thus of the ‘interbeing’ of its manifestations.

I kept a journal to record what was happening in my head. This has formed the basis of a long stream of fairly short essays (hopefully in plain language) that I have made available on the internet - first on websites and later on blogs. Pageviews are modest so far but this might change. I have not as yet taken steps to raise my profile on the many cyber sanghas that now exist.

But let us get back to the big picture.

• It would be good if the increasing number of enlightened beings were to go forth and spiritually multiply – create more Sanghas – including cyber Sanghas

• The focus in the beginning might be on the good and great, the elders and betters, the shakers and movers OR it can be bottom up by using social networks

• There is a fast growing set of teachers.

• Thich Nhat Hahn, the Dalai Lama and Henepola Gunaratana were born in the East but are now operational in the West. There are many others.

• Home grown mindfulness teachers include such luminaries as Jon Kabat Zinn, Rick Hanson, and Joseph Goldstein to mention a few from the many that are presently active. The message can be transmitted by audio and video as well as by text and face to face.

• There is also a growing level of what E O Wilson calls consilience centred around the notion of evolutionary psychology backed up by recent findings from the neurologists with their scanners. Buddhists and Biologists are increasingly talking the same language. Eg Thich Nhat Hahn talks about neural plasticity and biogeochemical cycles.

• The Big History Project on the Internet feeds a time line beginning with the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. It also looks forward about 4.5 million years to the death of our sun. It offers a creation myth based on the best science that is available. This makes it a suitable home for minds that are no longer captured by xenophobic, parochiality and zealotry. But, like Unesco, as far as I can tell, it does not yet fully embrace the Spirituality, religion, and mindfulness themes.

• I have a gut feeling that humanity is at a tipping point. There is citizen journalism and crowd sourcing for finance. Equanimous mindfulness will become the norm. Leaders will be enlightened. “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.”

• The combination of globalisation and ICT means that the whole planet is a village. And to extend an old African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child and another village to reform him”.

In the meantime I think, read, write, and share stories on the internet