McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality
publisher’s summary
A lively and razor-sharp critique of mindfulness as it has been enthusiastically co-opted by corporations, public schools, and the US military.
Mindfulness is now all the rage. From celebrity endorsements to monks, neuroscientists and meditation coaches rubbing shoulders with CEOs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it is clear that mindfulness has gone mainstream. Some have even called it a revolution.
But what if, instead of changing the world, mindfulness has become a banal form of capitalist spirituality that mindlessly avoids social and political transformation, reinforcing the neoliberal status quo?
InMcMindfulness, Ronald Purser debunks the so-called "mindfulness revolution," exposinghow corporations, schools, governments and the military have coopted it as technique for social control and self-pacification. A lively and razor-sharp critique, Purser busts the myths its salesmen rely on, challenging the narrative that stress is self-imposed and mindfulness is the cure-all.
If we are to harness the truly revolutionary potential of mindfulness, wehave to cast off its neoliberal shackles, liberating mindfulness for a collective awakening.
PainSci notes
Despite my strong natural cynicism and skepticism, Ron Purser's McMindfulness has taught me to be much more cynical about meditation and mindfulness than it had ever occurred to me to be — because they are much closer to a fad and a scam than I had ever suspected, and its proponents much more like grifters and snake oil salesman. Purser is credible because he is so obviously sympathetic to meditation itself — but he deconstructs its commodification and perversion with extraordinary skill and thoroughness.
I’m sure I’ve never highlighted a book as much as I have highlighted McMindfulness. There’s so much highlighting it’s almost meaningless! “Oh, this is a REALLY good part…just like the last 30 parts…yeah, that’s really a lot of yellow…”
~ Paul Ingraham, PainSci Publisher
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About this item:
“The Mindfulness Conspiracy,” Ronald Purser, www.theguardian.com.
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