As communists, we understand the causes of many of our woes in the modern life (i.e. class warfare, exploitation, etc), we are also not the most spiritual folks (at least from my anecdotal experience). Both things usually don’t mix well with this now trending topic of meditation and mindfulness in the West. Unfortunately, as with everything on capitalism, meditation was commodified, and often as not sold as the new snake-oil for mental health and improvement of lifestyle for the mordem working class of big cities, masking the causes of the many issues afflicting us in this late stage capitalism. HOWEVER, we know that meditative practices predate capitalism by several centuries. Also, anyone who’s been serious on the practice, knows that there is much more to meditation than what your mindfulness app endorsed by The Economist is promising you (helping fall asleep, focus, put up with your insufferable boss or wtv). So I’ll stop rambling and just go to my question: anyone has any Marxist oriented views on meditative practices? It’s something that interests me much, since the practice is totally self-oriented, and so, much less likely to be subject of socialism/communism discussions, but at the same time, in the East the practice is much more common and widespread, so in China, for example, there must be some interesting views on this.

  • commet-alt-w
    link
    62 years ago

    mindfulness is just a cultivation of awareness in your mind. it is not about being alone with your thoughts. you cannot be without mindfulness, it just comes down to how much have you cultivated for yourself.

    mindfulness is cultivated through meditation practices, like zazen, and there are many different types. zazen meditation is all about clearing your mind. pulling the weeds from your mind, all those distractions, and everything that clunks up our heads with too much unnecessary thinking.