Mindfulness Connects You to the Source
Content
What we think of as “mindfulness” today has drifted far from its spiritual intent. Even as a practice in Western Buddhism, it has largely devolved into a secular exercise for relieving mental stress. And now, as a popular remedy in clinical psychology, it appears virtually devoid of spirituality.
In 14th-century Old English, being mindful meant “to take care, be heedful or thoughtful, be aware.” For example, one might say, “Be mindful of the dangerous road.” But this commonplace meaning took on a more spiritual tone after T.W. Rhys Davids translated the word sati from Pali to English in 1881, a work published in Volume 11 of Max Müller’s monumental collection, The Sacred Books of the East.
The word sati literally means “to bear in mind,” or “to be aware,” which is similar to the Old English meaning. But Rhys Davids, with an eye to the Buddhist Eightfold Path, translated it as “mindful.” For instance, he translated sammā-sati, the seventh element of the Eightfold Path, as “right mindfulness, the watchful, active mind,” and sato sampajâno as “mindful and thoughtful.”
On a similar topic, see God & New Age Spirituality
Along with this subtle change of meaning, being mindful became more than a way of thinking. It soon became a deliberate practice, forming an integral part of meditation exercises.
Clinical Mindfulness
At first, mindfulness became popular in Western culture because of its strong association with Buddhism, especially as promoted by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk. And it soon gained legitimacy in medicine and psychology through the pioneering work of Herbert Benson and Miriam Klipper (The Relaxation Response, 1976).
Not long after, Jon Kabat-Zinn, who was a student of Hanh, conducted extensive studies on mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts, where he founded the Stress Reduction Clinic in 1979.
Hanh introduced mindfulness as a traditional Buddhist meditation technique in which practitioners are encouraged to become aware of their breathing and to focus on what they are doing in the present moment, without allowing their thoughts to influence them or to judge those thoughts. The purpose of the exercise is to become aware of thoughts and experiences in the present moment.
Hanh emphasized that mindfulness should bring us to an awareness of the interconnectedness of the self with the world around us. He saw no separation between the self and its environment. In a very real sense, he was promoting the Buddhist (and Taoist) philosophy of oneness, of belonging to a universe—cosmic consciousness.
Hanh’s insight into our connectedness with the universe is an important realization. But the critical difference in the God experience is the added realization that the self remains intact. Rather than being an illusion, as Hahn maintains, the self is a personal reality that makes a freewill choice to connect and harmonize with the universe (see Personality, Ego, Spirit, and You). And this cosmic self-realization is made possible by the presence of the Spirit Within—our personal God connector and the very source of God consciousness.
God consciousness is equivalent to the integration of the self with the universe.
– The Urantia Book
Benson and Kabat-Zinn, rather than emphasizing the connection between the self and the universe as Hanh did, instead focused on the strong connection between mind and body, thereby moving away from the metaphysical roots of mindfulness to develop a science of mind approach, one that promoted an awareness of physical, mental, and emotional states. They were primarily interested in physical and mental relaxation techniques as well as using creative imagination to change behavior patterns.
Read: Creative Imagination as a Spiritual Technique
Psychological research with mindfulness employs a clinical approach with the intention of reducing symptoms of depression, stress, and anxiety. The premise of these methods is that practitioners can, by being consciously aware of their individual thoughts, emotions, and sensations, intervene constructively whenever stressful or fearful states arise.
These clinical methods follow Buddhist tradition by being nonjudgmental and by teaching self-compassion and self-respect rather than engaging in critical self-examination. Whenever we intervene in our thoughts, we are taught to avoid criticism, guilt, or shame. This is a sensible approach.
Moral Mindfulness
But is mindfulness intended to be a simple awareness of thought that is judgment-free? Was it ever intended to be? Rhys Davids translated the term sati to mean both “mindful and thoughtful”—to think things over. Also consider that, in traditional Buddhism, it is essential to prepare the mind (in daily life and in meditation) using moral and ethical principles (Wilson and Pile, Mindful America, 2014).
The very act of being moral or ethical necessarily entails an exercise in discretion—judgment. However, this does not imply that judgments should be unkind, overbearing, or disrespectful.
While we should avoid self-recrimination, we cannot escape the necessity of conducting a sincere moral evaluation of our thoughts, feelings, and actions—otherwise, what’s the point of any mindfulness at all? What’s the point of trying to improve ourselves by becoming aware of our thoughts, motivations, and feelings if we don’t intend to adjust and improve those thoughts and feelings? We cannot escape the fact that changing our thoughts requires some moral judgment to determine which ones we should change.
The moral values of the universe become intellectual possessions by the exercise of the three basic judgments, or choices, of the mortal mind: Self-judgment—moral choice, social-judgment—ethical choice, God-judgment—religious choice.
– The Urantia Book
The question is, how do we conduct a moral evaluation? To evaluate something is to measure it against our values, and in spiritual evaluations, moral and spiritual values serve as our yardsticks. In all instances, we apply the four divine values—love, goodness, beauty, and truth—to any assessment of moral quality. These serve as a universal standard for comparison.
Read: Four Divine Values
Knowing the nature of God and being aware of divine values allows us to compare our thoughts and actions to truly virtuous ideals. By doing so, we gain spiritual direction and wisdom, thereby coming to know ourselves much better than we ever could with endless self-examination.
Once we have conducted a moral self-evaluation, we are not interested in constant self-absorption or overmuch self-examination. And borrowing the best from clinical mindfulness, we are not interested in harboring feelings of guilt or shame. Instead, we simply recognize our shortcomings and desires before turning to our Spirit Teacher for direction and support.
Another aspect of traditional mindfulness is the inclusion of vipassana, which is the realization of intellectual and spiritual insights by contemplating and reflecting on our mental and emotional states, the nature of being, and the state of reality (Fundamentals of Vipassana Meditation, 1961). These are valid pursuits that also form a part of the God experience.
Essentially, the traditional aims of mindfulness go beyond being aware of the present, watching our thoughts, or paying attention to our breathing. It also includes self-reflection, a process in which we discriminate and think things over—we contemplate and reflect—hence mind-full, or thoughtful.
To reiterate, we can never be entirely free of judgment or discretion when it comes to our thoughts. Even if we are fully aware of our character, inclinations, and views, we need some universal standard of comparison to assess these personal qualities. And this underscores the need to recognize divine values.
Mindfulness and God
As a psychological method, mindfulness is especially useful when it comes to being aware of anxious or depressive states of mind. It then directs practitioners to assess their thoughts with reason and logic, thereby dispelling such discordant ideas or replacing them with happier reflections. Indeed, taking a rational approach is the first step in any attempt to deal with unwanted emotions or disturbing thoughts.
But attaining deeper spiritual insights requires reaching beyond the limits of reason. Spiritual insights are inner visions, or intuitions, of divine realities and values. These provide a solid foundation for moral choice and religious living.
Reason alone can never validate the values and goodnesses of religious experience.
– The Urantia Book
Without a doubt, current mindfulness techniques contribute to psychological health, but they do not necessarily enhance spiritual well-being. And almost all clinical instructors of mindfulness have taken great pains to distance themselves and their techniques from their Buddhist roots, being equally as careful to avoid any connection to religion or spiritual philosophy. Nonetheless, some advocates of the clinical approach remain spiritual at heart.
Kabat-Zinn, for instance, does not deny the spiritual experience but, in his own words, “I avoid using the word ‘spiritual’ altogether. I find it neither useful nor necessary nor appropriate in my work…” One reason for this, he states, is that many different connotations are attached to any understanding of spirituality (Mindfulness Meditation for Everyday Life, 2001).
This is a reasonable response to the faults and failings of traditional religions. Nonetheless, in a very real sense, mindfulness has become his religion, and perhaps it is his way of contacting his inner Spirit. As he says, “Mindfulness allows everything to shine with the luminosity that the word ‘spiritual’ is meant to connote.”
Kabat-Zinn does not explicitly deny God either, but he feels that, rather than looking outside ourselves for help, the most important thing is to know ourselves first. As he says, “It is just that our happiness, satisfaction, and our understanding, even of God, will be no deeper than our capacity to know ourselves inwardly…”
This inward view of self-improvement corresponds with the Hindu notion of moksha—that enlightenment is reached through self-knowledge. No doubt, knowing the true self (personality) is a part of the religious experience, but whether it takes first place on the agenda is debatable. No matter how well-intentioned Kabat-Zinn’s philosophy may be, it is another theory, not necessarily a spiritual truth.
Teresa of Ávila, a 16th-century Carmelite nun and Christian mystic, had a different theory. She saw it the other way around—that we need to know God before we can know ourselves—a view shared by many others, past and present (Interior Castle, 1946).
We shall never succeed in knowing ourselves unless we seek to know God.
– Teresa of Avila
Self-knowledge, as well as our awareness of how we see the world, are important realizations that play essential roles in the God experience. But the critical difference in our God-centered approach is that the ultimate answers to happiness and understanding are not mysteriously lodged within the human psyche or some cosmic essence, but instead reside in the very real presence of the indwelling Spirit—our God connector.
Self-knowledge means knowing more about the nature of God, and it also means knowing our true relationship to this heavenly Creator—that we are, in truth, his spiritual children.
Spirit-Led Mindfulness
The current trend to strip mindfulness of its spiritual origins goes hand-in-hand with the increasing secularism of modern society. In science and much of academia, there is a strong aversion to religion and spirituality unless both are discussed exclusively in terms of material and social benefits (or detriments).
It is, therefore, understandable that Kabat-Zinn and others desire to appear scientific and impartial regarding religion. But without considering the realities of spirit, divine values, or spiritual achievement, we ignore the indispensable and transformative power of the Divine Presence within us, a vital influence in the progressive spiritualization of both mind and soul.
Sadly, the clinical, nontheistic approach to self-betterment doesn’t stop in the clinic. Any search of the topic will bring up a ballooning number of websites promoting meditation and mindfulness. But few of these have much to do with spirituality, even those that claim to be Buddhist in philosophy. True enough, some sites maintain a positive, humanistic or humanitarian stance, but there is little indication they are spiritually motivated.
And it is unfortunate that some advocates of meditation and mindfulness, rather than serving others, have reduced their practices to nothing more than a profitable business, preying on vulnerable anxieties rather than promoting a beneficial means of spiritual insight and self-improvement. This is a further continuation of the downward, secular, and materialist trend that Chögyam Trungpa refers to as spiritual materialism (Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, 2002).
On the bright side, the current approach to mindfulness is a credible search for self-knowledge and helps to broaden our intellectual horizons. It even touches on the inner Spirit, as Kabat-Zinn implies. But it could be even more productive and meaningful when undertaken within a wholehearted spiritual context, one that includes a realization of the unifying quality of personality coupled with the indomitable power of the Spirit Within.
Indeed, even if we are honest, open, and humble in our approach to mindfulness, it’s difficult to achieve lasting personal change by attempting to dominate the mind with the mind. Only a spirit-led personality can bring about lasting, positive spiritual changes.
All things are sacred in the lives of those who are spirit led.
– The Urantia Book
Mindfulness is a practical way to become aware of toxic thoughts and distressing emotional states, and it is also useful for changing such harmful thoughts. But ideally, we shift our focus away from ourselves and from any unhealthy self-absorption over personal problems. Endless introspection and undue self-examination are not productive. By focusing on God’s perfection and divine ideals and allowing the Spirit to transform us, we can achieve considerably more in life.
Overall, the effectiveness of mindfulness methods would improve immensely from a healthy injection of idealistic morality and a strong dose of the God experience. We could begin with Hanh’s cosmic approach, in which we see ourselves as an integral part of the universe, which is undoubtedly true, and then take it one step further by accepting that we truly belong in this universe as children of a Universal Spirit. We are spiritually endowed beings who live in a personal, peaceful, positive, friendly, and spiritual universe.
Another benefit of the God-centered approach to mindfulness is recognizing and accepting that we do not have to make it on our own. In fact, it is highly unlikely we will be able to make any significant spiritual advances in our personal betterment without the help of spirit ministry.
No one exists in spiritual isolation. We are not cosmic orphans cast aside by a heartless universe, forever abandoned to eke out a spiritual existence as best we can. We have divine parents and spiritual brothers and sisters who care for us and who give us all the help we ask for.
Mindfulness is a useful and productive technique for contacting the spark of God living within your mind. It helps you to be conscious of your consciousness—a high-minded state of superconsciousness. This elevated level of consciousness enables you to reach the borderland of intimate contact with your indwelling Spirit.
The unifying power of your personality allows you to take control of your thoughts and actions by making a deliberate choice to follow the guidance of your Spirit Teacher. Make use of the presence of the Spirit, the self-reflection of your soul, and the freewill choice of your personality to take control of your mind. It is your personality and your evolving soul that enable you to be mindful, while divine values provide you with moral direction.
If you will submit to the leading of the indwelling spirit, you will be unerringly guided, step by step, life by life, through universe upon universe.
– The Urantia Book
