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Thoughts on Religious words (mindfulness)

Mindfulness is all the rage these days, with large companies like Google and Apple bringing in mindfulness experts. I have also heard of churches and public schools having midweek training in mindfulness. The trouble is that mindfulness is a buddhist word. The buddhist system says that everything is suffering. That suffering is caused by desire. One way that the buddhists claim they can remove desire is through mindfulness training.

Simply put, mindfulness teaches people to focus on the moment. Whatever is right before a person's eyes at that moment has the full focus of the individual. So, if a person is pulling weeds, their full focus must be on that one weed that is being pulled. No thought is given to past weeds or the next weed until this current weed is fully dealt with. Companies us it to teach employees to focus on the current task and not to bounce between tasks or social media and tasks. In this way, they claim, stress will be reduced and peace will be gained, because no thought is given to the next task or the past task. No thought is given to where they will go to lunch or what plans they will have for tonight. The only thing that matters is this moment. Because there is no looking forward or back, all desires disappears and so does the suffering this person is experiencing, that claim.


This teaching is supported and continued by the Zen branch of buddhist. Zen Buddhism is the most mystical type of buddhism. Zen says that suffering comes because we translate and interpret the world through our mind. If we can experience reality apart from our mind, then we have achieved a state where there is no suffering and only bliss, because our mind has been shut off. Mindfulness is the first step in mindlessness. Once a person has mastered focusing on the moment and only that one moment, then to stop that focus and to turn off their mind is an easier task.

The mindfulness experts that come to churches and schools and companies believe with all their heart that all existence is suffering. I believe that this idea needs to be discussed to see if it is true. If it is not true, the the mindfulness exercises are based on a false premise. For the Christian, all existence is not suffering, not even close. There is suffering in life, to be sure, but love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control are spirit powered attributes or fruit. There is no suffering in that list and I believe that focusing on this fruit will elevate much of the suffering we bring on ourselves. Worldly desire usually involves envy and jealousy and coveting. Those things are sins and no amount of meditation and focus will atone for those sins. Covering sins with deep breathing exercises is insane. The blood of Jesus is the only atonement for sin. I think Apple and Google and certainly churches should try some Bible study and gospel reading to eleviate stress which is probably based on sin.



#Thoughts on words#

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