TIME magazine’s 2 Feb 2014 cover (above, left) announces the arrival of the “Mindful Revolution.” The publication joins a flurry of recent examples confirming that a shift is taking place in the representation of meditation in American popular media.
The more ubiquitous mindfulness becomes, the more people begin to ask questions about it, writes Sarah Rudell Beach in Huffington Post. And let me just say for the record, I think both of those are good things. I truly believe mindfulness has the power to transform our lives and our world. And I absolutely believe that questioning is a good thing — knowledge is power! Don’t jump on the bandwagon of a trend just because it’s on the cover of Time magazine and Kobe Bryant does it. As Immanuel Kant implored us to do centuries ago, “Dare to know!”
This article originally appeared in Huffington Post
Doesn’t mindfulness have religious origins?
The fact that so many of our traditions — religious and secular, spiritual and philosophical — come back to these fundamental practices of compassion and awareness suggests that mindfulness is simply part of the human experience. As Rechtschaffen writes, “Everywhere human beings have lived, we have needed to cultivate attention; whether it was for hunting, fashioning tools or clothes or intellectual pursuits. We have always needed compassion to live in harmony and enjoy our lives.”But CAN mindfulness be a spiritual practice?
Yes, if you choose to make it so. And for that matter, you can make a spiritual practice of gardening and walking and singing and dancing and reading poetry and washing the dishes.Does it HAVE to be a spiritual practice?
No.
Read the full article via Is Mindfulness a Religion? | Sarah Rudell Beach at Huffington Post