8 - Mindfulness and the Form of a Philosophical Life

Summary

The popular reception of Buddhism is marked by interest in meditation, but particularly by the proliferation of ‘mindfulness’ courses and the ubiquity of talk of mindfulness. The practices are mainly beneficial, though not universally so, and there are contraindications well known to teachers and practitioners in the world of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). An interesting main source of their popularity and availability is that, notwithstanding fundamentalist protests about heathenish practices, there seems to be no necessity to sign up in advance to any kind of ‘religious belief’ and this makes it all seem both unthreatening and non-sectarian, especially perhaps compatible with a secularist mindset. But to that extent, it is also neutral territory, the common ground, in fact, of a possible practical virtue in its natural setting.