...is a new (silly) fad, and you hear about it all the time, It's essentially a sort of substitute for religion.
So I was surprised to be told that the Maryvale Institute was running a course on it. They aren't, of course. But the name Maryvale is used by all sorts of institutions around the world - retreat centres, spas, clinics - so when I googled "Maryvale mindfulness" I found places in Asia and America organising mindfulness retreats and events and whatever...and one in London that was being promoted on a website that also, separately, mentioned the Maryvale Institute in a different section.
Which just goes to show that you need to check.
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2 comments:
If it is only a silly fad, would you consider it a good thing not to be mindful? Don't be misled by words. Christ himself recommends mindfulness in the sermon on the mount (set your heart on the kingdom of heaven), and if people are practising how to be mindful in other contexts might there not be a good chance that they will in time connect or reconnect with religion? Religious people can be supremely arrogant in suggesting they have got everything properly worked out and anything other than what they think must be fashionable twaddle. This sounds like a good way of perpetuating the general contemporary alienation from religion in the Western world.
Mindfulness is certainly not new nor is it a fad. As a training it has existed for well over 2,000 years. It is closely related to and is part of meditation, a practice used in the Catholic Church. I practice meditation and I can assure you that it has many benefits. When you read about John of the Cross and Francis of Assisi it seems pretty clear that they practiced meditation and were very mindful.
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