I just received the June issue of Mindful Magazine (yes,
there is a magazine devoted to mindfulness).
Inside the front cover is a full-page ad for a clothing company called
Best Dressed Monk, Attire for the Mindful Man.
I honestly thought it was a joke, but it’s not. Mindfulness has truly entered the commercial
space.
Unfortunately, it’s entered the political space as well. All too often, proponents of mindfulness wrap
the practice up as a world changing force that will bring forth an emergence of
a politically progressive agenda. As if
one must think GMOs are always bad or income redistribution is always good to be
truly mindful. Of course, sustainability
is a good thing, and self-interest serves society better as enlightened
self-interest, but none of this has anything to do with being mindful.
In fact, if mindfulness is truly to be defined as
nonjudgmental awareness, proponents of mindfulness must be accepting of all
points of view.