When the time is right, an idea blossoms
WHAT’S IN A NAME
After MBSR, Mindful Solidarity?
by Ramsey Margolis
Photo Szűcs László on Unsplash
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That ‘mindful solidarity’ may be an idea whose time has come was discussed recently on the Secular Buddhist Network website.
Another idea whose time had very much come a while ago is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Seeming to arrive out of nowhere in the 1990s, it caught the popular imagination after Jon Kabat-Zinn published his ground-breaking book, Wherever You Go, There You Are.
… there is something more powerful than strength, than courage, than even genius: it is the idea whose time has come.
– Émile Souvestre, in an article in Revue des deux mondes (1848)
Subtitled ‘Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life’, Kabat-Zinn described the results of research from having offered a secularized version of Insight Meditation to people with chronic diseases at UMass Memorial Health Center in Boston.
Intended to reduce resistance to mindfulness practice from people who were committed to a particular faith group, as a ‘religion-free’ way of practicing meditation MBSR participants weren’t required to ‘identify’ as a Buddhist to take part.
MBSR, however, is in essence a secularized form of ancestral Buddhist practices, brought up to date and made relevant to that time and place. It’s a marvelous object lesson in one of the key propositions of secular Buddhism: that whenever the dharma enters a new country, and a new culture, it is adapted to meet the needs of people in that place, and that culture at that point in time.
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Connecting
In his book How to Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan writes:
The usual antonym for the word ‘spiritual’ is ‘material’. That at least is what I believed when I began this inquiry – that the whole issue with spirituality turned on a question of metaphysics. Now I’m inclined to think a much better and certainly more useful antonym for ‘spiritual’ might be ‘egotistical’. Self and spirit define the opposite ends of a spectrum, but that spectrum needn’t reach clear to the heavens to have meaning for us. It can stay right here on earth.
When the ego dissolves, so does a bounded conception not only of our self but of our self-interest. What emerges in its place is invariably a broader, more openhearted and altruistic – that is, more spiritual – idea of what matters in life. One in which a new sense of connection, or love, however defined, seems to figure prominently.
While Pollan considers the core of spiritual experience to be connection, Gotama, the Buddha, is reported as saying that friendship was the foundation of the path – not meditation and not mindfulness.
Artist Marina Abramovich connecting at MoMA, New York
What, then, could be more conducive to the growth of friendship than getting involved with our fellow workers, our neighbors, our friends, and relatives, in programs and campaigns designed to create real change?Â
Here’s a great example of developing awareness, building community, connecting people, with a strong political message. Power Station – a campaign to put solar panels on roofs and storage batteries in houses in a street in a London working class area is really taking off.
Can you think of others? And what does the notion of ‘mindful solidarity’ mean for you? Please leave a comment.
Goodreads
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WATCH, LISTEN, TAKE PART
Three book launches
Tuwhiri will be launching Mike Slott’s Mindful Solidarity: A Secular Buddhist Democratic Socialist Dialogue three times during November, across a range of time zones – and you’re invited.
Wherever you are in the world, you are welcome to take part in at least one (if not more) of these meetings.
1
From Bangkok around to Wellington
Sunday 10 November
Author Mike Slott in conversation with Winton Higgins
Using Zoom ID 505 259 2148 this meeting will start at the following times:
9 am - Thailand
10 am - Western Australia & Bali, IndonesiaÂ
11 am - South Korea & Japan
12.30 pm - South Australia
1 pm - New South Wales & Queensland, Australia
3 pm - Aotearoa New Zealand
Here’s a link to get into the meeting.
2
USA/Canada/the Americas
November
A panel discussion featuring author Mike Slott and two others
with public presence plus on ZoomÂ
Details to be confirmed
3
Britain, Europe, Africa and the Middle East
November
Author Mike Slott in conversation
Details to be confirmed
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Please make a note in your diary. While you’ll find more information on these launches in future newsletters, do send us an email if you have any questions.
Expect the next Mindful Solidarity newsletter in your Inbox on 10 Nov 2024