Tag: mindfulness

Transparenssamfundet

Filosoffen Byung-Chul Han er en filosofisk pendant til den danske psykolog Svend Brinkmann. De er begge to dygtige og kamplystne; de er begge to vigtige stemmer, der går imod neoliberalismens uendelige positivitet, hvor kritikken ikke har været fraværende, men nok bare er blevet mere folkelig.

Han udfordrer i sine bøger flere af tidens tendenser – inklusiv dem, som nogle ynder at lovprise. Begrebet ”transparens” er netop et af tidens positive slagord. Jo mere gennemsigtighed, desto bedre, synes moralen at være.

Det er denne floskel, som Han angriber i bogen Transparenssamfundet.

Som de fleste af Hans bøger er Transparenssamfundet et mindre essay, det vil sige mere en pamflet end en bog. Og som alle hans bøger – jeg har vel læst seks-syv af dem på dansk, tysk og spansk (se her, her og her)– er også denne givende. De bedste er dog endnu ikke oversat til dansk!

Transparenssamfundet, skriver Han manifesterer sig primært som et positivsamfund. Her er alt glat og gennemsigtigt, hvilket gør den ”transparente tid” en ”skæbne- og begivenhedsløs tid.” Hvis nogle skulle være i tvivl om, hvad Han mener med en begivenhedsløs tid, så fastslår han dette med sætningen: ”Transparenssamfundet er et helvede af det samme.”

Tænk på sociale medier som Facebook eller Twitter, hvor der re-tweetes igen og igen. Mere af det samme. De færreste læser eller forholder sig minimalt til det, som de sender videre, enten fordi de er bange for at skabe gnidninger, det vil sige gøre kommunikationen mindre gnidningsfri, eller også fordi det, som kommunikeres, ikke inviterer til andet et ”likes” og venlige, men ligegyldige, nik.

”Et nyt ord for ensretning: transparens.”

Det, som Han efterlyser er det begivenhedsrige, det spontane, det legende, det narrative og friheden. Alle disse tillader ingen transparens, siger den tyske filosof.

Transparensen mangler respekten og nænsomheden overfor det fremmede, det anderledes; det, som ikke lader sig eliminere fuldstændig. Et eksempel kunne være de personer, der siger: ”Jeg kan godt lide dig, fordi du ligner mig.” Her er eventuelle forskelle udglattet. Intet er på spil.

Transparens tåler heller ikke huller. I stedet for er kravet, at du hele tiden skal opdatere, kommunikere, være en del af informationsstrømmen, men det betyder også at inspirationen forsvinder. Nye tanker og ideer kræver tid, altså en form for tomrum. Det er netop på grund af fraværet af pauser eller tomrum, at vi konstant zapper rundt i en positiv suppe af åndsløshed.

”Ånden er langsom, fordi den dvæler ved det negative og bearbejder det.”

Hans østlige rødder præger hans filosofiske tilgang. Den berører klassisk kritisk teori med referencer til Hegel, Nietzsche og Heidegger, men den er også beslægtet med mindfulness og zen, idet han konstant plæderer for at være opmærksom på det, som sker. Det er i kraft af vores opmærksomhed, at vi kan stille kritiske spørgsmål til, hvorvidt transparens reelt beriger vores liv.

Dette kommer til udtryk, når Han taler om hvordan transparens underminerer ethvert tomrum, hvor ”tomrum” refererer til det buddhistiske begreb intet eller tomhed, hvor det ikke handler om væren, men om tilblivelse.

I tomrummet kan man undslå sig enhver definition, hvorved man bedre kan følge livet, derhen, hvor det nu engang tager en. Heri ligger der også en kreativ og opfind gestus, idet man forsøger at komme på omgangshøjde eller i samklang med livet. Der ligger også noget frigørende, idet friheden ikke defineres (hvorved den ville blive mindre fri), men snarere er skabende og blivende.

Modsat er transparens blot et udslag af tidens manglende tillid. Det er, fordi jeg ikke tror på dig, at jeg vil have fuld gennemsigtighed. Når politikere beder danskere om at overvåge eller holde øje med hinanden, så underminerer dette den tillid, som reelt holder samfundet sammen. Transparens modvirker, at mennesker kan møde hinanden, som to fremmede mennesker, der kan vække hinandens nysgerrighed. I stedet for opfordrer transparenstanken os til at blotte os overfor hinanden, men altid på en genkendelig måde. Selv når folk er mest intime, lyder de som et ekko af naboen.

Transparens optimerer det allerede eksisterende, som når politikere og ledere er underlagt krav om transparens, hvorved de ikke kan tage svære, men nødvendige beslutninger. Det vil sige, beslutninger som ikke kan efterleve konsulentens naive forestilling om ”win-win” forsømmes eller udskydes.

Nogle gange gør det bare ondt, at tage en beslutning.

”Transparens og sandhed er ikke identiske.”

Transparenssamfundet er endvidere en del af pornosamfundet, hvor alt skal udstilles for derefter at blive udbyttet. Har man først set en pornofilm, bliver det pludseligt svært at skelne det ene kønsorgan fra det andet. Det er også her, at et af Hans yndlingsbilleder dukker op: vi er både gerningsmand og offer. Vi udstiller os selv, fordi vi bilder os ind at være frie, men sandheden er at vi ofrer os selv. ”Narcissisten, som er blevet depressiv, drukner i sin grænseløse intimitet med sig selv. Intet tomrum og fravær distancerer narcissisten fra sig selv.”

Begreberne tomrum og fravær berører den buddhistiske tanke om ”ikke-selv”, det vil sige at alt hænger sammen, der er ingen distinkte grænser mellem dig og mig. Vi formes løbende i kraft af en myriade af faktorer. Jeg er altså ikke andet end en foranderlig proces, som formes af alt det, som ikke er mig. Men alt det, som er mig fremmed møder jeg sjældent i dagens transparenssamfund, hvorfor jeg også bliver mindre og mindre.

Har det kapitalistiske samfund ensrettet os, hvorved vi ikke er andet end en flok næsten identiske cv’er, der per definition altid er kedelige at læse, fordi de sjældent er narrative, men blot en opremsning af en persons uimodståelige målbare bedrifter?

I al for lang og dårlig haiku-stil kan Hans konklusion opsummeres:

Den digitale kommunikation er gennemsigtig

ren transparens

en glat strøm uden hængsler

Den digitale kommunikation er uden moral

den har intet på hjerte

intet andet end sig selv

Den digitale kommunikation er gennemlyst

som en scene i en pornofilm

er den ikke oplysende

Den digitale kommunikation er opmærksomhedshungrende

her udstiller man sig selv, mens man fængsler sig selv

– friheden er blevet kontrollerende

Eller: ”Nietzsche ville sige, at vi ikke har afskaffet Gud, så længe vi endnu tror på transparensen.”

tansparenssamfindet-cover

A Philosophy of Mindfulness

 A Philosophy of Mindfulness is out!

Cover

In this book, I argue that we need a “new” philosophy because we—many of us, at least—are blind. We see rather little of that which surrounds us.

By mixing mindfulness with the affirmative philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, I unfold a philosophy of mindfulness. A philosophy that makes us less blind but also ethically responsible in relation to what we experience. Hereby, I move mindfulness from the sphere of psychology into philosophy, or from being primarily an inward-turned practice to an out-turned one.

A Philosophy of Mindfulness puts emphasis on experience, experiment, and actualization or affirmation. Each experience matters; life is the experience of making contact or being connected with what is in the midst of becoming—that is, life—and then passing it on to the next generations.

Love and care in the present moment – the philosophy of Arne Næss

“I’m not much interested in ethics or morals. I’m interested in how we experience the world.” – Arne Næss.

As a student of philosophy, I read the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss’s books. He wrote in an engaging and clear style that demonstrated deep philosophical breadth and he invited the reader to think along with him.

One of his strengths as a philosopher was this inviting, almost conversational style, which was related to his intuitive approach to life. By “intuitive,” I refer to something necessary—an open approach in which you follow life wherever it takes you, because it leaves you no possibility of escape.

Read the rest of the essay at The Mindful Word.

Teaching Mindfulness

“For mindfulness is not just one more method or technique, akin to other familiar techniques and strategies we may find instrumental and effective in one field or another. It is a way of being, of seeing, of tapping into the full dimension of our humanity, and this way has a critical non-instrumental essence inherent in it.” —Jon Kabat-Zinn in the Foreword to Teaching Mindfulness.

Teaching Mindfulness is authored by Marc S. Micozzi, Donald McCown, and Diane C. Reibel. It is both a theoretical and a practical book, but what does that mean?

Back in 1972, the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze had a conversation with Michel Foucault, in which they discussed the importance of theory and practice (see Foucault’s Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews). Deleuze said, “From the moment a theory moves into its proper domain, it begins to encounter obstacles, walls, and blockages which require its relay by another type of discourse (it is through this other discourse that it eventually passes to a different domain). Practice is a set of relays from one theoretical point to another, and theory is a relay from one practice to another. No theory can develop without eventually encountering a wall, and practice is necessary for piercing this wall.”

What is the proper domain of mindfulness?

The authors don’t mention this explicitly, but the proper domain is life. Mindfulness can help you bring your attention to life, that is, your relationship with life. If we step back, then mindfulness is a fundamental practice of Buddhism. Buddhism presents us with a theory of how to overcome pain and, perhaps, reach enlightenment (e.g., the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path). However, this theory may encounter an obstacle in its Western context because of its religious undertones. However, mindfulness is also—in its Western practice—a set of relays from psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and philosophy. The beauty of mindfulness is that it is more flexible than Buddhism, although it acknowledges the lineage and teachers within this very diverse tradition. Still, I refer to Deleuze because he can help us see that practice— mindfulness—makes the constitution of being alive possible.

When Kabat-Zinn says that mindfulness is a way of being, in my opinion he is saying that it’s a philosophy, a way of life. This also illustrates how the theory of practice (how to practice and teach mindfulness) progresses to the level of ontology. “Mindfulness in everyday life is the ultimate challenge,” writes Kabat-Zinn.

I read Teaching Mindfulness with gusto and not just because I recently taught my first session about mindfulness to children. Rather, it takes mindfulness as a practice between Eastern and Western philosophy seriously. Most teachers practice mindfulness out of love; they have been introduced to it because of personal angst or because of their travels in the East, where they met extraordinary teachers. Today, the story is a little different. People are teaching not only out of love but consider their teaching as a profession, which, of course, can be motivated by love. This addresses several problems or challenges. Like those in many other professions (e.g., teaching, nursing, and medicine) it is often assumed that these individuals are directed by some sort of “calling.” This calling often functions as a moral motivator since one could also feel “called” to become an assassin.

So, although I see philosophy as a way of being—and not a discipline where you need to assimilate a specific curriculum to pass—I am also aware that certain background knowledge from reading and practice is needed.

Philosophy is an approach to life that can be qualified through experience, including reading and discussion. As Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Most philosophers and mindfulness practitioners would agree, even though they may disagree on how to investigate life.

The authors of Teaching Mindfulness address pertinent questions, such as: Who becomes a teacher? What do I know? Do I know it well enough? In answering these questions, the authors offer their own experiences, which give the book a personal radiance. They also place mindfulness in a Buddhist context and explain how it gradually came to the West. “If the 1960s and 1970s were a period of foundation and growth, the 1980s and 1990s could be seen as the painful passage to maturity,” the authors write.

Being mature means being accountable for your actions. Especially when the teacher becomes something like a healer.

The authors identify four interrelated skill sets that are common among mindfulness teachers:

  1. Stewardship of the group
  2. Homiletics, or the delivery of didactic material
  3. Guidance of formal and informal group experiences
  4. Inquiry into participants’ direct experience

By using these skill sets, the authors present many interesting ideas about balancing the interdependence of the group’s freedom and resonance, the teacher’s responsibility, how to deal with aggression, and other topics. They present concrete exercises and meditation topics for each of the potential challenges: development and care for your “teacher’s voice,” connecting and maintaining curiosity with your students, etc. In this way, the book is useful for the individual teacher, for a group of teachers who can debate and develop their own style of teaching, and even for schools.

One of the book’s greatest advantages is that it illustrateteaching-mindfulnesss the full range of practices: awareness, being present, yoga, and loving-kindness. In that sense the three authors establish the beauty of mindfulness. I would like to stress this point.

Mindfulness is part of an industry that attracts many good teachers, but it also draws those who are in it only for the money. If you are interested in mindfulness (or anything else) because of the money, it negates the so-called goodness, loving-kindness, and true altruism intrinsic to these individuals and makes them hypocritical. When profit or payment enters, the world is again for only those who can afford it. The rest? Let them scramble in the dirt. What I mean when the authors show the beauty of mindfulness is that they pass on their experiences instead of capitalizing on them. Even though these textbooks are ridiculously expensive, we are grateful to the authors for explaining their practice.

Mindfulness can teach people to pay attention, and to become aware of themselves and what happens around them. This can help them see that they need to do something. For instance, I imagine living in a world where people can become who they are. Unfortunately, the persecution of gender, race, and sexuality still hinders the individual’s freedom to become. Before this can be changed, we need to pay attention to how we think and act to make equality and respect possible in the future.In other words, mindfulness can’t change the world alone but together with critical thinking, I believe, children (and others) will have a good foundation for engaging in this world.

In conclusion, I recommend this book to all who work with mindfulness, but it is also a valuable resource for teachers in general.

Finn Janning, PhD in philosophy, is a writer.

Some years ago

Some years ago, I began contacting book publishers for review copies. At that time, I didn’t have any money but a great hunger for reading books on philosophy. All I offered was a review or a mention on this blog. Many publishers were kind enough to send me copies.

While reading these books, I have gradually tried (and I am still trying) to formulate and practice an affirmative philosophy. A philosophy for everyone! This us a journey that began with my PhD-studies that I finished in 2005.

A few years ago, I decided to see if mindfulness could add anything to this philosophical approach. Loosely said, all ethics requires that we “see”—that is, that we are aware or paying attention as a way of being. Yet most philosophies don’t really nurture this skill.

Therefore, as a way to get acquitted with mindfulness (I was interested in its nonreligious approach to meditation), I participated in courses and retreats, and I am now in the last stage of finishing a master’s degree in mindfulness.

Philosophy is serious, as Kierkegaard said (for which reason he elegantly added humor and irony to pass on his thoughts). During this process, I have contacted publishers for books on mindfulness as well. And that is why I am writing this post.

One of the books I received in 2016 was Malcolm Huxter’s Healing the Heart and Mind with Mindfulness. I lost the book several months ago, probably in a park somewhere in Barcelona, since I read it during the summer. Now I feel obliged to keep my word: keeping your word is important even if no one else cares about your words. That is, I have to mention the book!

As I recall the book, it was slim and an easy read, almost an introduction to mindfulness. Yet it was not one of those that are centered on the author’s own suffering; rather, it was based on research and deep knowledge about both Buddhism and psychology. It doesn’t debate whether mindfulness lacks a real Buddhist touch but unfolds the fruitful interactions among mindfulness, psychology, and Buddhism. Most of the chapters ended with meditations, and I did some of them, mainly because they seemed honest and not something that the author felt was needed.

Healing the heart and the mind can be seen as “self-care”, not self-love (an absurd term). Self-care is a healthy investment of my participation in both the present moment as well as in the future.

Mindfulness, as many probably know, is not just about paying attention; it is also about not forgetting. The mind is not the brain; rather the mind is anchoring somewhere in the body like wrinkles and scars that are signs of a lived life.

That I recall this book, on the verge of 2017, is a sign that it is worth sharing and therefore reading.

Mindful leadership for beginners

We all know the simple moral principle that the buyers of stolen goods are as guilty as the thief. I recall this principle from childhood. The point is that the thief wouldn’t steal if no one was buying—at least a thief wouldn’t steal because of greed or arrogance, but perhaps only to meet his or her basic needs, e.g., food.

This moral principle touches upon a basic microeconomic model: supply and demand.

Continue reading here.

Afhængighed og mindfulness

En narkoman lider af narkomani.

Narkomani er en ustoppelig trang til narkotiske midler.

Narkotiske midler er lammende, bedøvende og smertestillende.

Der er noget stimulerende i en smertestillende bedøvelse, fordi det, som gør ondt er livet.

Narkomaner er blandt en voksende grupper af mennesker, som i samfundets øjne er upassende – især de, der lever på gaden. De skal ligesom invalide, arbejdsløse og traumatiserede flygtninge opgraderes i forhold til samfundets normer.

Sjældent stilles der spørgsmålstegn til, hvorvidt alle kan og bør tilpasses efter samme kapitalistiske model. Sjældent stilles der spørgsmål til, hvorvidt det reelt er disse krav, som skubber nogle ud i et misbrug, hvorved misbruget netop bliver noget smertestillende.

Og måske skulle man spørge, da mange er blevet afhængige. Nogle tager stoffer for at blive tyndere, andre for at arbejde mere effektivt; nogle går i swingerklubben for at blive begæret, andre sælger sex til mænd og damer, der ikke kan acceptere deres eget livs kedsomhed.

Afhængighed er alle steder. I alle former.

Narkomani er ikke samfundets skyld, men et problem, der udspringer af samfundets moralske deroute. Det er i dag nemt at føle sig isoleret og udenfor. Man kan sågar blive afhængig af ”likes” på Facebook?

Ingen form for narkomani er sund.

Gabor Maté har In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts vist, at mindfulness kan hjælpe med at opløse de automatiske mønstrer, der fodrer vores afhængige sind.

I Buddhist Foundations of Mindfulness redigeret af Edo Shonin, William Van Gordon og Nirbhay N. Singh kan man læse, at mindfulness er en Buddhist praksis, der skærper ens opmærksomhed og fremmer ens mentale velvære. Endvidere står der, at mindfulness kan fremme ens erkendelse af at være en moralsk agent, dvs. ansvarlig for ens handlinger og gerninger. Både de der retter sig indad og de, der retter sig udad.

Mindfulness kan som en kultivering af vores opmærksomhed fremme en social ansvarlighed, hvis praksissen løsrives fra den Buddhistiske ide om, at sandheden findes inde i os selv. Her er det oplagt at betone det sociale engagement, som den Vestlige filosofi er kendt for.

Vi har mistet intimiteten med hinanden, som Terry Tempest Williams siger.

Et sted at begynde, er at udvise omsorg for hinanden. For narkomanens vedkommende kunne dette ske ved at genetablere et fortrolighedsforhold mellem en praktiserende læge og narkomanen, og – ikke som nu – fastholde en relation mellem narkomanen og henholdsvis pusheren og politiet. Et skifte fra en kontrollerende instans, hvor flertallet kun kan lide det, som vedkommende kan forstå (læse: det som kan betale sig), til en etik, der interesserer sig for det, den ikke umiddelbart kan forstå. Sidstnævnte kan nemlig lære os noget. Når vi lærer noget, skabes der nye erfaringer; erfaringer, som gør virkeligheden større.

Forskning viser, at krigen mod narkotika reelt kun hjælper narkokarteller og rockere, at kun omkring ti procent bliver afhængige af narkotiske stoffer, at de fleste narkomaner gradvist trapper ned, eller helt holder op, hvis deres liv uden narkotika ikke kun er smerte og ensomhed.

Forskning viser, at afhængighed ikke kun er et genetisk problem. Ingen arver sin mors druk. I højere grad er det omgivelserne, som præger ens udvikling af hjernen, der påvirker hvordan en person søger belønning og tryghed, hvordan vedkommende kan regulere sine følelser. Misbrug i ens omgivelser fører nemt til misbrug.

Konklusionen er, at legalisering er vejen frem – sammen med skabelsen af et mere venligt og inkluderende samfund, der ikke er blind overfor bivirkninger af et kapitalistisk samfund. Det vil sige et samfund, der kultiverer en nysgerrig medfølelse i stedet for en dømmende holdning.

For interesserede kan jeg anbefale:

– Gabor Matés In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, der rummer historier fra gaden i Vancouver, henover forfatterens personlige anekdoter, mens han løbende diskuterer nyere forskningsresultater.

– Carl Hart, High Price, der refererer til egen forskning (og Bruce Alexanders), bogen er ligeledes en memoir.

– Johann Hari’s Chasing the Scream er en journalistisk rejse i begrebet ”krigen mod narkotika”, der viser, at krig altid fremmer død og had, og netop ikke omsorg og varme.

– Bruce Alexander’s The Globalization of Addiction, fortæller historien om, hvordan kapitalismen har medført et spirituelt forfald. Han refererer også til sin egen forskning, der viser, at rotter – hvis de kan leve sammen med andre rotter – ikke vælger narkotika. Dette er vel hovedværket.

Moralen er klar: Enhver narkoman vælger kun narkotika, fordi det er som at få ”et stort varmt knus” (som Maté citerer en for at sige). Der var også en grund til at Jeppe på Bjerget drak.

Og for mindfulness kan jeg anbefale Buddhist Foundations of Mindfulness redigeret af Edo Shonin, William Van Gordon og Nirbhay N. Singh. Det er en tung antologi, som er befriet for den frelste og “selvhjælpende” tone, som ellers findes i mange bøger om mindfulness.

Mindfulness in Rome

May 11 – 15, 2016: 2nd International Conference on Mindfulness, Sapienza University of Rome. See here the website of the event.

Among the many interesting presentations, I presented the paper entitled Mindfulness as an Ethical Practice.

In this paper, I ask two questions. The first is: What is an ethical practice? The second question is: Is mindfulness an ethical practice? My ultimate concern, however, is the possible link between the two issues: What relationship does mindfulness have with ethics? To answer these questions, I first draw on three ethical theories from the Western history of philosophy—Spinoza, Nietzsche, and Deleuze—to define ethics as a particular way of being. Then, I integrate and compare some significant elements from these ethics with the practice of mindfulness, mainly as Jon Kabat-Zinn defines it. This is done to clarify to what extent mindfulness is an ethical practice. My study reveals that not only can mindfulness be viewed as a classical ethical practice (as understood in a Western philosophical context), but—and perhaps more surprising—mindfulness is closer to some Western ethics than to Buddhism, e.g., regarding whether “the Good” is known beforehand, whether ethics is an immanent or transcendent practice, and whether ethics is a judgmental or nonjudgmental practice. Finally, I briefly discuss the ways in which Western philosophy can shed new light on mindfulness.

 

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