tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post3927587604721123206..comments2024-03-28T11:58:31.928+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: The uselessness of mindfulnessBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-65584697456062747462017-10-28T07:10:56.278+01:002017-10-28T07:10:56.278+01:00@August - I see what you mean - I hadn't thoug...@August - I see what you mean - I hadn't thought of it. It would fit with the general trend to make life 'virtual' - and to promote ever wider use of drugs that dull sensibility (antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, SSRI antidepressants etc - probably 10 percent or more of Western populations take such agents - especially among the ruling elites). Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-88255990144298870362017-10-27T19:33:58.666+01:002017-10-27T19:33:58.666+01:00Yes. Especially with this particular case, we can...Yes. Especially with this particular case, we can be sure that most action would not result in good outcomes. But in terms of why the established order would be for mindfulness- they are afraid of any action because they are ridiculously brittle at this point.<br />Augusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08758314961163692341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-72557998527336128362017-10-27T18:36:42.226+01:002017-10-27T18:36:42.226+01:00@August - My concern is that half measures are of ...@August - My concern is that half measures are of no value in this situation - and however uneasy we may be, we will not know *what* to do unless we have the right metaphysical framework: the Christian one. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-56166780669340127752017-10-27T18:10:57.512+01:002017-10-27T18:10:57.512+01:00Having been very much influenced by Ludwig Von Mis...Having been very much influenced by Ludwig Von Mises, I know that humans tend to act because of some sort of unease. We tend to not act when we are sated, comfortable, etc... So, it seems to me mindfulness practices are encouraged because they take our attention away from our senses of unease and put them on whatever is present before us at the moment.<br /><br />The established order wants to remain the established order. If we pay attention to our unease, we will notice injustice and become more and more determined to end the established order. If we ignore our unease, and pay attention to the present, we will be less likely to become a threat to the established order.<br />Augusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08758314961163692341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-88281100234184492712017-10-27T12:26:45.711+01:002017-10-27T12:26:45.711+01:00Really, the key to bureaucracy is mindlessness, th...Really, the key to bureaucracy is mindlessness, the forfeiture of not only spiritual awareness, but every degree of conscious evaluation of whether what you are doing makes any kind of sense. Instead the bureaucrat is reduced to habitual and slavish compliance with procedure without ever examining why the procedure exists, what purpose it is nominally designed to accomplish, whether it ever has or ever will conceivably accomplish the pretended purpose, or even whether it is being carried out as initially conceived rather than distorted by accidents as ludicrous as typos in a regulation or pages of a manual being out of order.<br /><br />The slack-jawed incomprehension of a typical bureaucrat merely being confronted with a portion of their regulations that they have not habitually referenced before (or even just recently) is something to behold...if one doesn't have to see it more than once.<br /><br />But one should be accustomed to bureaucracy using terminology to mean the exact opposite of the established meaning in rational usage.Chiu ChunLinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03519192610708043962noreply@blogger.com