—“What do you mean when you use the word “mindfulness”?”— Andrew Cordeaux @AndrewCordeaux
1) I mean the physical, cognitive and emotional discipline to control the subject of attention on the present intent, insulated from distractions whether personal, environmental, or interpersonal. 2) But with preference for the stoic method (self authoring, virtues of action), the epicurean objective (within one’s control), testimonial (scientific) knowledge, the play (ritual), and team sport, festival, and feast (celebration). 3) The buddhist method, originally practical and insular evolved into semi-mystical, and survived the attack by monotheistic abrahamism, where the western schools that were practical and action oriented, were destroyed by design by the Abrahamic conquest and dark age. 4) East asian ritual, and Hindu ‘way of life’ survived as well. Each of these methods of physical, mental and emotional discipline reflects local demand given local degree of agency during the period of transformation. (although buddhism was imposed on japan unfortunately). 5) So I use ‘mindfulness’ in the sense that all groups sought to meet demands for some technique of achieving mindfulness of their eras by slightly different means. Since buddhism developed the most direct analysis of the objective, the terminology evolved into a universal. 6) But as in all things, the stoic method, epicurean objective, and scientific(empirical) paradigm, and pursuit of agency(dominance) rather than withdrawal (submission), reflect the european rather than african, semitic, hindu, east asian metaphysics: realism, naturalism, agency.