MINDFULNESS REQUIRES A SOLID ETHICAL FOUNDATION

Mindfulness meditation, without being embedded in a solid ethical foundation, may be of little benefit, according to the results of a recent study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology.

The study provides preliminary [sic] evidence that brief mindfulness exercises may not automatically increase prosocial and moral behavior but can produce a mixed pattern of moral consequences, perhaps depending upon the context.

The corporatization of mindfulness, in the pursuit of wealth and profit, worries me greatly, as it does many others. Mindfulness may help a firm’s bottom line but unless the practice is grounded in a solid moral and ethical foundation, it is an abomination. I have worked in the ‘big end of a time’; it is very much a ‘dog eat dog’ environment. For the most part your work colleagues are your competitors in a merciless ‘race to the top’. Unfortunately, this race is all too often devoid of ethical values. I see a lot of people who end up broken through all of this.

Mindfulness, whether Buddhist, Christian or secular, must be accompanied by a mindset that is open to the needs of others and suffering humanity generally. The basic rationale of mindfulness must be a genuine desire to become a better, more caring human being. In the words of J. Krishnamurti:

We are talking of something entirely different, not of self-improvement, but of the cessation of the self …

Study: Schindler, S et al. ‘Potential negative consequences of mindfulness in the moral domain.’ European Journal of Social Psychology. First published: 21 Jan 2019 Issue online: 8 Jul 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2570

 

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