Mindfulness without Spirituality.
Why you don’t need the Buddha.
2600 years ago, the Buddha, after his enlightenment, disclosed the Four Noble Truths he observed about the human condition. This discourse, over the centuries, became one of the central concepts in Buddhism. The gist of these noble truths is that human desires (good or bad) cause suffering and the way out of this suffering is the Noble Eight-Fold Path, most important of which is Meditation or Mindfulness (Sati).
Although I am fascinated by the teachings of the Buddha, I can understand why meditation or mindfulness beginners would be disquieted to pick a book on Buddhism. Why read about some other religion? It is somewhat senseless that the benefits of mindfulness have to be comprehended through the discourses on Buddhism.
“Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books… But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” — The Buddha
So, I propose that the usefulness of Mindfulness and Meditation can be directly realized practically and experientially. Below are few arguments you will find worth considering and exploring whether you’re an orthodox, agnostic, or an atheist.
1. The mind is all there is.
From the moment you are born to the time of your death, you will experience your entire life inside your mind. Your mind is the filter for all the experiences you have had. Ponder on this simple fact for as long as it takes to realize it.
The impermanent nature of all things should be meditated upon. You cling to externals, deriving your sense of self from your spouse, job and friends. But the fact is people come and go, relationships begin and end; your life begins and ends one day. Ironically, the truest friend you can ever have is your Mind. It is your constant companion. All the experiences you have had have been filtered through this marvelous product of evolution. However, you don’t have an autonomous control over the mind. Evolution has programmed it to behave in a certain way. Let us briefly touch on that.
Robert Greene’s latest book, Laws of Human Nature, explicates the evolutionary reasons for the conditions of human nature, which affect our mind on a sub-conscious level. For example, Greene proposes that humans are hard-wired to feel envy because our primate ancestors, apes and chimpanzees, lived in a hierarchical structure. This need to compare ourselves to others has only strengthened over the millenniums as we formed larger tribes, cities and nations (not to mention social media). Apart from envy, we have other primal nature such as grandiosity, irrationality, shortsightedness, conformity, aggression and passive aggression.
Since we are dominated by such primal forces, we inadvertently sabotage ourselves and our relationships. Let us take an example of our mind’s tendency to react irrationally. Let’s say you worked assiduously for a new project design which you plan to present to your boss. Because of our mind’s tendency to derive our sense of self from externals, in this case your work, you are naturally nervous and excited to listen to your boss’s feedback. Unbeknownst to you, your boss is having a rough day and coldly rejects your proposal. Your involuntary reaction would be to aggressively defend yourself and your work. At an unconscious level, your self-identity has been threatened, because it rested on the acceptance of your work. You blurt out some harsh words at your boss. He/she is surprised by your impudent behavior and sternly asks you to leave. You get out of that meeting feeling agitated at first and despondent later. You beat yourself up for not controlling your emotions. Your relationship with your boss would never be the same even if you apologize. One irrational move causes a world of pain.
On the other hand, if you had been practising mindfulness for sometime, you would not have reacted immediately. (Note: this takes time and practice) You would have assessed the situation calmly. You will think-
Why did he reject my idea? Is there something wrong with my design? Can I take his feedback and improve it? Is he having a bad day? He is unusually grumpy today. He/she has never dismissed me without giving a constructive feedback.
All the while, your chimp brain will have fired up your emotions. Even that can be noticed and acknowledged. Since you had maintained your composure, your boss felt guilty and requested you to visit him later to discuss the proposal in depth. You would have come out of that meeting in a better mood and, more importantly, with better awareness of the nature of your mind. This also builds your confidence in dealing with difficult people in the future.
Emotions stealthily dominate your mind with fearful and irrational thoughts. This is because the old mammalian or limbic part our brain governs emotions, whereas the Neocortex, most recently evolved part of our brain, governs cognition, attention and language. The Old Mammalian brain and the Neocortex operate independently.
Therefore, emotions have a strong evolutionary force behind them and thus need to be counteracted with an equal force which is awareness or mindfulness. Mindfulness allows to you to stop automatic reactions and gives you the freedom to choose your responses. You do not want to go through life reacting impulsively to other people and their dramas. You don’t want your brain to be hijacked by social media advertisements, which sucker you into buying stuff you don’t need or waste your time online. You want to have control over your emotions and look at the present moment clearly. But it is hard. Insanely hard. The difficulty of understanding the nature of your mind, along with its habitual tendencies, has been expressed beautifully in the below quote.
“the mind has a depth far greater than the deepest sea, and all the way down it churns with emotional tempests of which we are barely conscious, but which virtually dictate thought and behavior.” — Eknath Easwaran
2. The present moment is all there is.
“The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up.” — Chuck Palahniuk.
This may sound like another hackneyed spiritual saying, but it is worth repeating because it is difficult to argue with this. I don’t mean to say your past and future are not important. They certainly play a role in molding our character and behavior. I’m also not suggesting that learning from our mistakes of the past or planning for the future are not worthwhile things do. They are crucial precepts in gaining wisdom, clarity and purpose.
My experience in Mindfulness and Meditation has revealed that most of my problems only exist in my head and that problems need past or future to exist. They cease to exist in the present moment. Or more aptly, when we focus on the present moment there are no problems, only situations to be dealt with. For example, if you catch yourself reenacting an argument with your boss while walking down a street, immediately notice the state of your mind. Ask yourself these questions — Is all this anxiety and worry worth it? Am I truly alive right now? Is thinking really required for this moment?
Similarly, people get anxious about the future. I have yet to discover any positive benefits of anxiety. Although one can argue that worrying about the future can motivate us to work harder or push our boundaries, but is that really a healthy way to live? Even if you accomplish your grand goal such as getting your dream job or getting that big promotion, what comes after that? More problems of course. Life has an uncanny ability to introduce problems even when you thought there wouldn’t be any more. So where does that leave us? Are we going to pursue our goals with grim determination to attain the ideal “future”? When that future comes it becomes the present moment and I can guarantee that you will not be satisfied with the destination if you haven’t enjoyed the journey.
“Life is just one damn thing after another.” — Mark Twain.
One of the fundamental concepts of Stoicism is the “Sphere of Control”, which means that Stoics focus on things they can control. Past and future are not in your control. Present moment is certainly within your sphere of control. Mindfulness gives you the power to truly live in the present moment and alter the course of your life for better. Don’t make the grievous mistake of ignoring the present moment, it is your life. Everything else is an illusion.
So wake up and look. Look outward and inward and be glad you are conscious.
