Complex Numbers

Never Mind

PROMPT January 26th

Do you practice mindfulness or meditation? How often? On an average day, how often are you intentionally aware of your mental state and emotions?

Hm, let me just become aware of my emotions right now...

"Mindfulness."



I've made it a habit to rant against this "mindfulness" bullshit in here in the past. Here are some of the entries excoriating the nonsense:

Living in the present makes us less than human: "Brains" 

Mindfulness isn't necessary for self-actualization: "Inspiration" 

Mindfulness is snake oil: "Mind over Matter" 

Mindfulness is incompatible with setting life goals: "Millionaire Blues" 

It probably encourages complacency: "If You Don't Mindful" 

"The Pursuit of Grumpiness" 

Using mindfulness to cure depression can cause depression: "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" 

So you can see I've given "mindfulness" way more thought than it actually deserves, it being dangerous nonsense and all. It's just a way for charlatan New Age gurus to sell more New Age gurufiction by taking advantage of peoples' dissatisfaction with life. "Instead of actually changing things, I'll buy this book / watch this video and work on making myself complacent." It's the worst type of navel-gazing when what we need to do these days is to be focused more outward.

Oh, sure, people can seem to get something out of it at first, but the same could be said for any new way of thinking or viewing life.

As for meditation, well, if it works for you, fine. It annoys me when it's not actively putting me to sleep.

I feel like I'm always aware of my mental state or emotions. I may not always like what I become aware of, but it's like breathing: no one needs to tell you to "breathe." You're always breathing, or you'd be dead. Oh, sure, maybe you can improve on the way you breathe, but anything can always be improved. Similarly, you're always thinking, and you can train yourself to think better.

And do you really believe that someone whose entire purpose in life is to sell books and get paid to do seminars and shit is going to encourage people to think for themselves? People thinking independently is exactly what every huckster is afraid of.

So no, I don't buy into this horseshit.