The Miracle of Mindfulness and How It Makes Living Easy
I have come to believe that mindfulness is the panacea for most of my problems in life. When I’m being mindful it is possible for me to cope with almost anything; I say almost because I haven’t had to deal with everything yet. When I’m mindful there is peace and I can fully appreciate what is happening at this moment. Mindfulness has helped me beat addiction and cope better with stress, but that is only the tip of the ice-berg. I’m also sure that it will also help me deal with chronic pain if I ever have to endure it. It can also help me face death with equanimity when the time comes; when I’m fully mindful there is no fear.
The wonderful thing about mindfulness is that although it is considered Buddhist there is no need to convert to this belief system in order to get the benefit. People from all religions practice this technique; even militant atheists like Sam Harris have no problem with using mindfulness as a tool. There is no book learning involved with the technique and no scriptures to recite; in fact trying to read too much into it could send you up a blind alley. With mindfulness all you have to do is observe what going on now without identifying with it or getting caught up in the action. That’s it.
The Buddha saw mindfulness as part of the path to liberation; escaping the idea of a self. I would like to think that this is true, but if it isn’t it doesn’t matter. The practice of mindfulness is not about getting something at some future date; you get the benefits right now. The path doesn’t need to lead anywhere important so long as it is a pleasant journey – at least in my opinion anyway.
Hi Paul,
How are you?
The MIracle of Mindfulness is the title of a book by Thich Naht Hahn. He is touring Thailand next month and is talking at Thammasay University on Oct 18 as well as elsewhere, and doing a retreat. Register here:-
http://www.thaiplumvillage.org/act5310_schedule.html
Who is Sam Harris?
Hope you are keeping well,
All the Best,
Bill Z
Thank you Bill, I gained a lot in the past from the books of Thich Naht Hahn.
I hadn’t heard much about Sam Harris until recently, but I came across him when reading reviews for Stephen Bachelor’s book “Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist”. Apparently Harris is quite famous for his outspoken comments about other people’s religious beliefs. Harris and Bachelor both seem to argue that it would be better to remove a lot of things from Buddhism to make it more modern and atheist friendly. I’m not really sure if I agree – not fully anyway. Although I could likewise be accused of cherry picking the parts of Buddhist philosophy I like as well.
Thank you for reminding me about mindfulness. I find myself forgetting periodically.
Hi Mary, I need reminding myself a lot of the time.
Found Sam Harris on TED. I think his thinking is dangerous:-
http://bit.ly/bDQiln
He and Dawkins are an ilk of people who attack religion without any form of religious experience, insight etc. I hope they don’t get near the religious institutions. there is much that needs to be changed in religion, and that needs to be changed by the religious themselves. Not by an intellectual from outside. Is he Jewish? His anti-Islamic position smacks of that? Using intellect to support a religious war?
Hi Bill, all I know is that he is an atheist. I have no real interest in the politics behind it. I don’t know enough to comment.
Isn’t learning abut the world Buddhist? Isn’t detached awareness about the world mindfulness? Where does this come from? “even militant atheists like Sam Harris have no problem with using mindfulness as a tool” When I read this, I feel as if the writer is giving him credibility.
The point of my blog which might have had a real world context is that people like Harris want to make religions like Buddhism subject scientific rationalism. For one that would eschew mindfulness as a justifcation of action, if mindfulness did not conform to scientifically rational acceptance.
When you look at what is scientifically acceptable in the West, such as Oppenheimer, surely compassion for the world makes you think. “I have no real interest in the politics behind it.” I can’t understand that.
Hi Bill, I only mentioned the name Sam Harris to show that people from different belief systems were using mindfulness as a tool; I used his name because I’d recently read about him. You asked if he was Jewish and suggested that his views might have something to do with this but I don’t know how to respond to your comment. I could make all types of speculations about why he believes what he does but at the end of the day I can’t know; I suppose there could be political motivations but I’m not qualified to say. All I know is that his opinions differ from mine, but likely most of the population of the planet have a different viewpoint than the one I’m stuck with 🙂 My point was that even though his opinions differ from mine we can both get something from mindfulness.
There are so many blogs that are focused on politics and they don’t seem to be going anywhere; the world does not seem to be getting any better because people are discussing politics so much – in my opinion. Now you could say that it is impossible to separate politics from life, but I just want to try. When I look deeply at my own personal political opinions I can see that they are sometimes based on assumptions that may very well be wrong; politics can make me quite passionate but it is probably wasted passion – at least in my case. As I say there are plenty of people who are using their blogs to solve all the world’s political problems; good luck to them but I’m not really interested in that type of blog.
I understand your wish not to have politics in your life but unfortunately they are. As soon as you start earning money you enter the political arena. Political parties are fundamentally based on theories which make claims about the best way to spend the money, whilst of course at the same time they are about power and the egos of the politicians. There is nothing we do in this world which is not affected by money or power. For me accepting this and being detached from it is an important aspect of my understanding – sanity?
When I look at academics presenting positions I don’t just see the correctness of their arguments I see how acceptable their arguments are to the underlying financial institutions that are backing them. Are academics employed for their intelligence? For their understanding? In my view they are not. Otherwise why isn’t there more Buddhist psychology in the understanding of mind in academia?
One can avoid thinking about such issues but for me that is like saying I will avoid thinking about detachment or hindrances. We are all attached to something or live with some hindrances – that is the nature of samsara.
If you watch the clip in my quoted blog you will see that he uses the extremes of aspects of Islam to justify all his rational claims. This is not rational thinking but it is populist since 9/11 and the War on Terror. I don’t know whether he intends this but I am certain that it gives him some academic acceptabillity irrespective of whether he believes that or not. I did not realise you would focus on the Jewish comment, it is not integral to what the blog and my reply were about.
Great piece , great subject. I’d love to hear you expand on mindfulness, how you manifest it and reorient to it when you find it slipping.
All the best,
Bob
Thank you Bob. I do intend to write more articles on this subject. Maintaining mindfulness is a problem for me and I’d imagine most people. It is so strange; even though I know how powerful it can be I can still let it slip right out of my life for long periods of time. I’ll deal with this in an another article soon.
Paul, I thank you as well for reminding me about mindfulness. I try it out, but then forget for a few weeks. So what I need is a minder!
The hardest thing Cat is remembering to stay mindful. I hope you are still using your minfulness clock – that can be a great help.
Hi Paul,
Great discussion on mindfulness, I was first introduced to it 15 years ago. But I must say it is the hardest thing for me to do, I am the Monkey Brain incarnate! Just swinging from vine to another , happy as a monkey can be. However the value i see in the practice is so obvious! But still…
My Thai girlfriend prays to Buddha everynight without fail, sometimes I ask what she said? if she has had a busy day and is tired, she will say ” Same thing I say yesterday” I love irreverence 😉
I plan, while being mindful to eventually move to Thailand ( live/work in Singapore now) , but still wrestling with the “What to Do ?”
Thanks for you Blog.. Ivan
Hi Ivan, thanks for visiting. I sometimes struggle with monkey-brain also. I get good periods where my concentration is strong but then it can all go rocky again; I think this is normal. I would imagine the fact that you live in Singapore should make it easier for you to arrange a move here eventually – especially if you are making big money there 🙂
I am close to retirement age, but work is fun, so no reason too pull out the rocker on the porch yet. My mother use to tell me that fun/projects can’t last for ever kid ? I guess Mom was a Partypopper.
Thinking that I will need mindfulness to count all of that cash, maybe my Thaisweetheart will help,especially when I start swinging through the trees?
What is a Minfulness Clock? do I set a tone to go off every hour on my phone to remember to do a moment of Zen? “Mindfulness and Alzheimer a path throught retirment” Sounds like a good Book! Thanks Paul.
Hi Ivan, there are a few of mindfulness clocks that you can get for free on the intenet. I use the one from here http://www.mindfulnessdc.org/mindfulclock.html. I work all day on the computer and it is set to go off every half an hour; it is just to remind me to come back to the moment. You can set the mindfulness bell to go off at whatever interval you want – you can also set it for random. The problem is that I often forget to turn it on 🙂