The Mindfulness Practice
An Ancient Practice for the Age of AI — A Special Call for the Leaders
As we entered the modern age of science in the 1500s, Descartes lionized the concept of dualism - the separation of the mind and body.
This idea bred individualism and championed by the narrative universalized by separating science and spirituality.
That has worked well to provide basic comforts to people with technology, but leaves one emotionally wanting for more at a spiritual level – what Maslow inspired by the Blackfoot indigenous wisdom - calls Self Actualization.
We want to help people to find their power to self-actualize – whatever that means to each person – to find harmony and peace within to be emotionally accepting, content and happy in relationship to other sentient beings and this earth.
We acknowledge that we are emotional beings constantly learning to manage our feelings and needs better by seeking harmony between the mind and body through the breath – our lifeforce – through what the Chinese call CHI and Vedics call PRANA.When we become habitually conscious of the breath, we pay attention to reflect and become aware of our words and actions to develop, shape and curate our relationships. That awareness is mindfulness.
Meditation heals and re-empowers us
To understand meditation’s purpose and power, we must understand Ego. When we feel threatened, the Ego protects us by severing our connection with reality. This happens as most of us urban dwellers are dominated by the left hemisphere of the brain.
The left hemisphere according to Neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist (Matter of Things) - has a very high opinion of itself, and the right hemisphere has a much more modest opinion of itself, which goes hand-in-hand with the fact that the right hemisphere is more intelligent, not just emotionally and socially more intelligent, but more cognitively intelligent than the left hemisphere.
As left brained individualism is celebrated in today’s society: we are self-obsessed with the ego, which separates us through the illusion that material wealth alone will bring us happiness.
Through meditation, deep contemplation and reflection, we put our ego in perspective to transcend the left hemisphere and become whole brained to realize that the middle path where moderation, restraint, prudence and wisdom is the way. This evolves a fine balance between the material and the spiritual - brute force vs truth, beauty, goodness, unconditional love to realize our oneness with nature.
This power of balance, harmony and a flow state is achieved through meditation. It gives us the space to be mindful of our emotions. It helps us notice when a need is not met, manage the brain and mind, control the Ego to give us valuable perspective, in order to find a reasonable way forward – as what we need is to make decisions and get things done through a least path of resistance.Meditation allows us to evaluate whether a threat is real or not, to move away from a scarcity to abundance, from pessimism to optimism, to be gracious and generous, while simultaneously being tough and grounded.Meditation is one of the many practices that lead us to be mindful.
The fundamental mindfulness practice then enables us to put the world in better perspective by balancing rational logical intelligence with emotional and spiritual intelligence. That is our philosophy.
