On the problem of mindfulness as a consumer product without ethics
Living in the present moment, or what the well-being industry calls ‘mindfulness’, has become one of those words that is overused to the point of meaninglessness. Like resilience, sustainability and wellness, it has come to be used as a vague umbrella term for a range of behaviours and attitudes that are, on the face of it, positive, but which require conscious effort to put into action. Just saying one is resilient or living sustainably doesn’t guarantee any change from the non-resilient or unsustainable self. Adopting the words alone makes no change. In a capitalist world there is also a strong “ka-ching” value to these words. There’s any number of entrepreneurs, influencers and con-artists happy to sell you wellness, mindfulness, resilience, sustainability and a host of other zeitgeist buzzwords for a price.
There’s no end to the products you can buy, the workshops you can attend, the books you can read, the websites you can subscribe to, phone apps to download, celebrity endorsements, corporate retreats. These are not just popular buzzwords, they’re marketable products and overworked consumers looking for a quick fix to their problems are a market ripe for exploitation.
I google ‘magazines mindfulness’. So many options, both online and hard copy, just waiting for me to click ‘subscribe’ and input my credit card details. These don’t include magazines on ‘mindful crafts’ (self-actualisation through macramé?), ‘mindful journaling’ (how to keep a diary), a host of adult ‘mindful colouring books’ (stay inside the lines) and magazines on mindfulness for children and teens.
For $77 a year Breathe magazine promises to “capture the imagination and delivers practical advice and activities to help ‘make time for yourself’”. Planet Mindful, for $99.99 a year, will provide me with “a year of wonderful, friendly advice on how to slow things down, strengthen your relationships and treasure your mental health and wellbeing”. Yes, it seems money can buy you happiness, or so the purveyors of mindfulness would have you believe.
Similar searches on ‘mindfulness consultants’ and ‘mindfulness therapy’ brings up even more variety than magazines. There is no end to the number of ways you can part with your hard-earned cash on trying to stay in the moment.
The
problem with mindfulness, as it is practised, preached and sold as a brick in
the wall of well-being, is that it comes with no ethical parameters. Someone stealing
a car in the middle of the night is mindful. A sniper on a rooftop is mindful. Being 'mindful' in this context simply means to calm one's mind and focus on the present moment without any consideration of the wider impact of the action, without acknowledging the connectedness of all beings.
We live in a hectic world with more and more demands being made on our limited time. There seems to be more distractions every day, pulling our attention away from where we want it. The number of people seeking diagnoses for ADHD is rising at an alarming rate. It's likely very few of these people actually have ADHD, but they'll get the diagnosis because it means they're ripe for being sold medication - but that's a subject for another blog. The point is, it's not us.
Just because you're overwhelmed by events, distractions and general craziness doesn't necessarily mean you have a mental disorder. It means you need to slow down. The mindfulness industry knows this and for a fee will furnish your life with calming aromas, crystals, herbal teas, apps to monitor your sleep patterns, breathing and mood control, creams, potions, vitamin supplements and those miniature Zen sand gardens where you can play at arranging stones and raking sand around them (yours for $49 in Bunnings). All of which provide more you with even more distractions.
Mindfulness without an ethical foundation isn't mindfulness. It's focus; which is a good thing but it doesn't expand your consciousness or connectedness. True mindfulness must include the intention of good. Not just while meditating, but in every aspect of the practitioner's life. In a world where discord and social dissonance is rising, we need personal and societal ethics more than ever.
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