Abstract
As mindfulness becomes more secular and popular, there are more arguments about its purpose and use value. Because of its disparate uses, many proponents of any one side often talk past each other and miss their mark. This paper employs an integral meta-theory that accounts for subjective, inter-subjective, objective, inter-objective, and developmental perspectives on mindfulness. This helps categorize modes of mindfulness in order to clarify their purposes and functions within a society characterized by neoliberal principles and structures. It adopts the standpoint of a prophetic critique similar to those critiques of McMindfulness and insists on the inseparability of both universal self-development and social justice. The approach expands on a taxonomy developed by the socially engaged Buddhist scholar, Bhikkhu Bodhi. The modes of mindfulness are classical, secular therapeutic, secular developmental, secular instrumental, secular interpersonal, and socially transformative mindfulness. It proposes that a prophetic integral mindfulness employs all modes of mindfulness in order to do justice to as many perspectives as possible and thereby contribute to human evolution.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baer, R. A., & Lykins, E. L. B. (2011). Mindfulness and positive psychological functioning. In K. M. Sheldon, T. B. Kashdan, & M. F. Steger (Eds.), Designing positive psychology: Taking stock and moving forward (pp. 335–350). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bazzano, M. (2015, November 25). Episode 1: Manu Bazzano: Buddhism and the counter-tradition. http://mindfulcranks.com/
Bazzano, M. (2013). In praise of stress induction: Mindfulness revisited. European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, 15(2), 174–185.
Berila, B. (2015). Integrating mindfulness into anti-oppression pedagogy: Social justice in higher education. New York: Routledge.
Bodhi, B. (2015, May). Modes of applied mindfulness. Unpublished manuscript
Cannon, J. (2016). A social justice approach to teaching mindfulness in schools. In R. E. Purser, D. Forbes, & A. Burke (Eds.), Handbook of mindfulness: Culture, context, and social engagement. Springer: New York.
Casel (2015). Collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning. http://www.casel.org/
Cederstrom, C., & Spicer, A. (2015). The wellness syndrome. London: Polity.
Cook-Greuter, S.R. (2005). Ego development: Nine levels of increasing embrace. http://www.cook-greuter.com/Cook-Greuter%209%20levels%20paper%20new%201.1'14%2097p[1].pdf
Cook-Greuter, S. R., & Soulen, J. (2007). The developmental perspective in integral counseling. Counseling and Values, 51(3), 180–192.
Corbett, J. (n.d.). How Ken Wilber and integral theory leave out justice. http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/how-ken-wilber-and-integral-theory-leave-out-justice/
Coyne, J. (2013, August 21). Positive psychology is mainly for rich white people. http://blogs.plos.org/mindthebrain/2013/08/21/positive-psychology-is-mainly-for-rich-white-people/
Davies, W. (2015). The happiness industry: How the government and big business sold us well-being. New York: Verso.
Davis, A. (2013, May 6). Recognizing racism in the era of neoliberalism. http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/16188-recognizing-racism-in-the-era-of-neoliberalism
Dodson-Lavelle, B. (2015). Against one method: Toward a critical-constructive approach to the adaptation and implementation of Buddhist-based contemplative programs in the United States. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Graduate Division of Religion, West and South Asian Religions. Atlanta: Emory University.
Ecclestone, K. (2011). Emotionally-vulnerable subjects and new inequalities: the educational implications of an ‘epistemology of the emotions’. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 21(2), 91–113.
Ehrenreich, B. (2010). Bright-sided: How positive thinking Is undermining America. New York: Picador.
Enck-Wanzer, D. (2011). Barack Obama, the Tea Party, and the threat of race: On racial neoliberalism and born again racism. Communication, Culture & Critique, 4, 23–30.
Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2009, March 12). An overview of integral theory. Integrallife.com. https://integrallife.com/integral-post/overview-integral-theory
Ferguson, G. (2006). No color, all colors. In M. McLeod (Ed.), Mindful politics: A Buddhist guide to making the world a better place (pp. 261–272). Boston: Wisdom.
Forbes, D. (2015, November 8). Mindfulness and neoliberal education. Published as “They want kids to be robots: Meet the new education craze designed to distract you from overtesting.” Salon. http://www.salon.com/2015/11/08/they_want_kids_to_be_robots_meet_the_new_education_craze_designed_to_distract_you_from_overtesting/
Forbes, D. (2012). Occupy mindfulness. http://beamsandstruts.com/articles/item/982-occupy-mindfulness
Forbes, D. (2004). Boyz 2 Buddhas: Counseling urban high school male athletes in the zone. New York: Peter Lang.
Forman, M. D. (2010). A guide to integral psychotherapy: Complexity, integration, and spirituality in practice. Albany: SUNY Press.
Germer, C. K., Siegel, R. D., & Fulton, P. R. (Eds.). (2013). Mindfulness and psychotherapy (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge: Harvard.
Giroux, H.A. (2014, December 30). Barbarians at the gates: Authoritarianism and the assault on public education. Truthout. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/28272-barbarians-at-the-gates-authoritarianism-and-the-assault-on-public-education
Giroux, H. A. (2014b). Neoliberalism’s war on higher education. Chicago: Haymarket.
Gross, R. M. (2006). The wisdom in the anger. In M. McLeod (Ed.), Mindful politics: A Buddhist guide to making the world a better place (pp. 225–238). Boston: Wisdom.
Gunnlaugson, O. (2009). Establishing second-person forms of contemplative education: An inquiry into four conceptions of intersubjectivity. Integral Review, 5(1), 25–50.
Hamilton, D. M. (2013). Everything is workable: A zen approach to conflict resolution. Boston: Shambhala.
Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hassed, C., & Chambers, R. (2015). Mindful learning: Mindfulness-based techniques for educators and parents to help students. Boston: Shambhala.
Healey, K. (2015a). Disrupting Wisdom 2.0: The quest for ‘mindfulness’ in Silicon Valley and beyond. The Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 4(1), 67–95.
Healey, K. (2015b). Contemplative media studies. Religions. Special issue: Next steps in religion and popular media., 6(3), 948–968.
Hedges, C. (2009). Empire of illusion: The end of literacy and the triumph of spectacle. New York: Nation.
Holford, J. (2015, November 21). First they make you crazy. Then they sell you the cure: Be mindful of mindless mindfulness. http://www.josieholford.com/first-they-make-you-crazy-then-they-sell-you-the-cure-be-mindful-of-mindless-mindfulness/
hooks, b. (2006). Buddhism and the politics of domination. In M. McLeod (Ed.), Mindful politics: A Buddhist guide to making the world a better place (pp. 57–64). Boston: Wisdom.
Hsu, F. (2013, November 4). The heart of mindfulness: A response to the New York Times. Buddhist Peace Fellowship. http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/the-heart-of-mindfulness-a-response-to-the-new-york-times/
Hyland, T. (2015a). On the contemporary applications of mindfulness: Some implications for education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 49(2), 170–186.
Hyland, T. (2015b). The limits of mindfulness: Emerging issues for education. British Journal of Educational Studies, 63(3), 1–21.
Hyland, T. (2011). Mindfulness and learning: Celebrating the affective dimension of education. New York: Springer.
Ilouz, E. (2008). Saving the modern soul: Therapy, emotions, and the culture of self-help. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ingersoll, R. E., & Zeitlin, D. M. (2010). Integral psychotherapy: Inside out/outside in. Albany: SUNY Press.
Jennings, P. A. (2015). Mindfulness for teachers: Simple skills for peace and productivity in the classroom. New York: Norton.
Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge: Harvard.
Kohlberg, L. (1984). The psychology of moral development: The nature and validity of moral stages (Essays on moral development, Volume 2). New York: Harper & Row.
Kramer, G. (2007). Insight dialogue: The interpersonal path to freedom. Boston: Shambhala.
Lam, R. (2015, August 20). Conscientious Compassion: Bhikkhu Bodhi on climate change, social justice, and saving the world. Tricycle blog. http://www.tricycle.com/blog/conscientious-compassion
Lee, M. T. (2015). North Central Sociological Association presidential address. The mindful society: Contemplative sociology, meta-mindfulness, and human flourishing. Sociological Focus, 48(4), 271–299.
Loy, D. (2013). Why Buddhism and the West Need Each Other: On the Interdependence of Personal and Social Transformation. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 20, 401–421.
Loy, D. R. (n.d.). What’s Buddhist about socially engaged Buddhism. http://www.zen-occidental.net/articles1/loy12-english.html
Loy, D. R. (2002). A Buddhist history of the west. Studies in lack. Albany: SUNY Press.
Magee, R.V. (2015, May 14). How mindfulness can defeat racial bias. Greater Good. http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_mindfulness_can_defeat_racial_bias
Magee, R. (2015, April). Breathing together through “I can’t breathe”: The ethics and efficacy of mindfulness in working toward justice for all. Keynote, Spring Conference, University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness in medicine, health care, and society, Shrewsbury, MA. http://www.fleetwoodonsite.com/ppSD2/catalog.php?id=18
Maloney, J. E., Stewart Lawlor, M., Schonert-Reichl, K. A., & Whitehead, J. (2016). A mindfulness-based social and emotional learning curriculum for school-aged children: The MindUP program. In K. A. Schonert-Reichl & R. W. Roeser (Eds.), Handbook of mindfulness in education (pp. 313–334). New York: Springer.
Maris, J. M. (2009). The impact of a mind/body medicine class on counselor training: A personal journey. Journal of humanistic psychology, 49, 229–235.
Martin, C. (2014). Capitalizing religion: Ideology and the opiate of the bourgeoisie. New York: Bloomsbury.
McGuigan, J. (2014). The neoliberal self. Culture Unbound, 6, 223–240.
McIntosh, S. (2012). Evolution’s purpose: An integral interpretation of the scientific story of our origins. New York: SelectBooks.
Mindful Nation UK. (2015, January). Interim report of the mindfulness all party parliamentary group. http://oxfordmindfulness.org/wp-content/uploads/mindful-nation-uk-interim-report-of-the-mindfulness-all-party-parliamentary-group-january-2015.pdf
Moloney, P. (2013). The therapy industry: The irresistible rise of the talking cure, and why It doesn’t work. London: Pluto Press.
Murray, T. (2009). What is the integral in integral education? From progressive pedagogy to integral pedagogy. Integral Review, 5(1), 96–134.
Ng, E. & Purser, R. (2015, October 2). White privilege and the mindfulness movement. Buddhist Peace Fellowship. http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/white-privilege-the-mindfulness-movement/
Nowogrodzki, A. (2016, April 21). Power of positive thinking skews mindfulness studies. Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/power-of-positive-thinking-skews-mindfulness-studies/
Orr, D. (2014). In a mindful moral voice: Mindful compassion, the ethic of care and education. Paideusis, 21(2), 42–54.
Orr, D. (2002). The uses of mindfulness in anti-oppressive pedagogies: philosophy and praxis. Canadian Journal of Education, 27(4), 477–490.
Patten, T. & Morelli, M.V. (2012, February 20). Occupy integral! http://www.beamsandstruts.com/articles/item/814-occupy-integral
Purser, R. (2014). The myth of the present moment. Mindfulness, 6, 680–686.
Purser, R. & Loy, D. (2013, July 1). Beyond McMindfulness. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-purser/beyond-mcmindfulness_b_3519289.html
Rakow, K. (2013). Therapeutic culture and religion in America. Religion Compass, 7(11), 485–497.
Rechtstaffen, D. (2014). The ways of mindful education: Cultivating well-being in teachers and students. New York: Norton.
Revelely, J. (2013). Enhancing the educational subject: cognitive capitalism, positive psychology and well-being training in schools. Policy futures in education, 11(5), 538–548.
Reveley, J. (2015a). School-based mindfulness training and the economisation of attention: A Stieglerian view. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Incorporating ACCESS, 47, 8.
Reveley, J. (2015b). Foucauldian critique of positive education and related self-technologies: Some problems and new directions. Open Review of Educational Research, 2(1), 78–93.
Robbins, C.G. (2004). Racism and the authority of neoliberalism: A review of three new books on the persistence of racial inequality in a color-blind era. Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies, 2(2). http://www.jceps.com/wp-content/uploads/PDFs/02-2-09.pdf
Rowe, J.K. (2015, September 29). Learning to love us-versus-them thinking. https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/james-k-rowe/learning-to-love-us-versus-them-thinking#
Rowe, J.K. (2015, March 21). Zen and the art of social movement maintenance. Waging nonviolence. http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/mindfulness-and-the-art-of-social-movement-maintenance/
Saari, A., & Pulkki, J. (2012). “Just a swinging door”—Examining the egocentric misconception of meditation. Paideusis, 20, 15–24.
Slaten, C. D., Irby, D. J., Tate, K., & Rivera, R. (2015). Towards a critically conscious approach to social and emotional learning in urban alternative education: School staff members’ perspectives. Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 7(1), 41–62.
Stanley, S., Barker, M., Edwards, V., & McEwen, E. (2015). Swimming against the stream? Mindfulness as a psychosocial research methodology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 12(1), 61–76.
Stein, Z. (2015, June 26). The Integral movement is an anti-capitalist movement: ITC debate preamble. http://www.zakstein.org/the-integral-movement-is-an-anti-capitalist-movement-itc-debate-preamble/
Sumedho, A. (2001). The way it is. Hertfordshire: Amaravati.
Taubman, P. (2009). Teaching by numbers: Deconstructing the discourse of standards and accountability in education. New York: Routledge.
Waters, L., Barsky, A., Ridd, A., & Allen, K. (2015). Contemplative education: A systematic, evidence-based review of the effect of meditation interventions in schools. Educational Psychological Review, 27, 103–134.
Wilber, K. (2016). Integral meditation. Boston: Shambhala.
Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality. Boston: Integral Books.
Wilson, J. (2014). Mindful America: The mutual transformation of Buddhist meditation and American culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Witt, K. (2014). Integral mindfulness: From clueless to dialed-in. Tucson: Integral Publishers.
Woods, R. H., Jr., & Healey, K. (2013). Prophetic critique and popular media. In R.H. Woods & K. Healey (Eds.) Prophetic critique and popular media: Theoretical foundations and practical applications (pp. 3–18). New York: Peter Lang.
Zakrzewski, V. (2016, March 31). Why don’t students take social-emotional learning home? http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_dont_students_take_social_emotional_learning_home
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Forbes, D. Modes of Mindfulness: Prophetic Critique and Integral Emergence. Mindfulness 7, 1256–1270 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0552-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0552-6