Yea, it looks like it's mostly creditable stuff, except for those ET quotes... like:

“Thinking cuts reality up into lifeless fragments”

Ugh!!

The problem I see is with using this approach across the board, for every situation.

Yes, it's healthier to calm oneself rather than flying off the handle just because someone cut you off in traffic or the waitress got your order wrong or whatever.

But if someone's dealing with a major problem - bereavement, divorce, victim of crime, serious illness, etc - then mindfulness is only so much help. Yes, it's helpful to get a handle on your emotions rather than letting them overtake you, but sometimes what you need to do is let them overtake you for a time. When you get a bit more settled, then you've got to move forward to real problem-solving, which requires critical thinking, strategy and planning. You can't just 'be in the moment' when you've got to make choices that will affect your future.

I think there is a danger that therapists will only do the mindfulness step and blow off the problem-solving step. Problem-solving is harder, messier, riskier, and I think some therapists are just not up to it.

One could broaden this to its application to social problems. Sure, you could close your eyes and breathe deeply and not let some horrible injustices bring you down... or you could stay angry and let that anger fuel your fight for change. There's plenty in this world to get justifiably outraged about. But then again, having a society of eyes-closing, deep-breathing, waterfall-visualizing zombies probably suits some political agendas just fine.

"peer review" becomes meaningless if Tolle is a peer..... :(

Peer review, for anyone who wants more than an arbitrary linkage of names on the same page:

[en.wikipedia.org]

As an example, dsm, my name may appear on the same page as yours but that does not make you my peer or vice versa. Such attempts at tenuous linkage are the hallmarks of a lazy mental process and a lack of critical thought.

Its pretty much the spuriously 'logical' process that a manipulator uses to lead his victims down the primrose path of confusion and an inability to discriminate---known and used by cult recruiters the world over.

The Infallible Tolle is notable for never submitting any part of his process or business to any kind of critical review.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2010 04:11PM by Stoic.

If a person started doing The Work in the hope of relieving chronic anxiety that was not relieved in therapy, would mindfulness meditation, as taught by Jon Kabat-Zinn, be a good alternative?

More scary stuff that shows the mainstreaming of the The Work and its ilk.

Notice the complete lack of emprical research? Just a few anecdotes, and bingo! proof this therapy works. I guess it can never NOT work.

This from a director of a university student counselling centre. Yikes.

[www.padoin.com]

Browsing other threads I found this one on Oprah:

[forum.culteducation.com]

"the billionaire entertainer has been fighting off persistent allegations this year that her media empire provides a platform to questionable self-help gurus who promote ideas that many experts consider dangerous."

BINGO.

southdakota, "mindfulness" is just the ability to pay attention in a conscious manner. It can be developed or anhanced through effort, but mostly it is the result of being relaxed and not distracted. If a person is suffering from some kind of neurological disturbance like severe ADHD or ADD, they might not get results from the different kinds of exercises one can use.

'All one really has to do is take a deep breath and "clear the mind" and then look at whatever is in front of one, fully taste one's coffee, for example. The word "mindfulness" is almost a kind of jargon allowing people to sell you what you already own ;) Yet, if you have real obstacles such as PTSD (which involves "intrusive memories") or ADD (attention-deficit disorder) then you might need professional help with those obstacles. With my PTSD for example, my difficulty with typical mindfulness exercise was that I would become mindful of a memory :( and I had to learn from a good therapist how to first push an unwanted interference aside and then engage in a "mindful" state.


Here is a selection of sites including some medical school PDF's:
[www.google.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2010 01:16AM by dsm.

'If a person started doing The Work in the hope of relieving chronic anxiety that was not relieved in therapy, would mindfulness meditation, as taught by Jon Kabat-Zinn, be a good alternative?'

It's not an approach that is suitable for everybody and it is far from the quickest and easiest solution to chronic anxiety. Its a lot of work but has produced some good long term results.

Read one of Kabat Zinn's books, they should be available in most libraries, to see if the approach is one that makes sense to you.

[www.amazon.com]

Avoid any trance-inducing meditations, they may make you feel good for a while but there is a hefty price to pay for the perceived 'bliss'
If you treat it as a useful technique and not a religious or 'spiritual' pursuit you can avoid the dangers of being drawn into a malign authoritarian group.

Further reflections on BK and ET...

I have no direct experience of either, in fact I think I had heard of them only peripherally until I came to this forum. I really had no idea what they were about, good or bad.

However, I have DEFINITELY come across these BK/ET ideas and principles in everyday life. I suppose they are part of the general mix of pop psychology in our culture, along with The Secret et al. What I find scary is that people actually believe it. They may not have taken the courses or read the books but the meme has gotten into their minds.

I think there are a number or risks: diminished mental and emotional health as a result of the techniques not working and the self-blame that follows, in addition to the original problem or concern; an 'empathy deficit' (great phrase I picked up from Barbara Ehrenreich), a lack of concern or patience with others' problems since they should be sorting themselves out rather than bringing you down with their negativity; less good-quality mental health care being available, since why should any health plan (public or private) provide it now that the problem of human unhappiness has been solved with these techniques?

No wonder depression, anxiety, etc are on the rise, with this nonsense floating around.

BK is coming to my city in a few months. Over $300 to attend. It'll probably sell out.