Are meditation and mindfulness the same? Both are spiritual practices engaged in by many secular people – indeed, by atheists even. And yet both verge on the metaphysical in terms of how they engage consciousness
Though often associated with each other, they are different. In today's post, I present how I see the difference between meditating and being mindful.
Let's start with definitions: mindfulness is easy; it means the state of being full of mind. Being alert, heedful, attentive; being aware of consequences; being in the flow, latching on to intuition, having presence of mind. Paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. Mindfulness is being aware of being aware ('metacognition'); it is the cognitive skill of sustaining that metacognitive awareness towards the contents of one's own mind and bodily sensations in the present moment. This involves monitoring and regulating one's attention. Mindful awareness can be focused on internal phenomena such as thoughts and emotions, as well as external phenomena, such as speech or movement.
Meditation requires more explanation, so before the definitions, the etymology. The word comes from the Latin meditatus (to meditate, to think over, consider), from the Proto-Indo-European med- (to measure, limit, consider, advise). Meditation is defined as "A devotional exercise of contemplation, or achieving an altered state of consciousness, such as vacancy of mind, through relaxed or focused mental activity of a non-substance-induced nature".
The two are different, and which you are more likely to practice boils down, I think, a great deal to personality. Meditation requires more discipline; allocating time for it – at the expense of any other activity – is tough. People on the ADHD spectrum find it harder to meditate; staying focused is difficult. But mindfulness requires the occasional nudge to get back on track.
I have prompted Google Gemini and ChatGPT to come up with illustrations that highlight the difference between the two. First Gemini (to whom I'd say: "Don't pick the flowers! Let them live and bring joy to others!)
And then ChatGPT (to whom I'd say: "Don't waste money on takeaway coffee!").
Interesting how both AIs have gone for the same visual comparisons.
I see mindfulness as being consciousness at the interface with matter. Will I catch that train? Yes, if I don't lose track of the time. Will I catch flu when in town tomorrow? No, not if I'm aware of people around me coughing and sneezing and keep a healthy distance from them. Will I have a car crash? No, not if I drive with total situational awareness for the entire duration of my drive.
Mindfulness should be taught to children before they hit adolescence, when normal thinking gets switched off by hormonal rush. My mother taught me the saying quidquid agis, prudenter agas, et respice finem as a child; it was only in middle age that I really got the importance of this piece of wisdom. Essentially, it says, whatever you do, do it mindfully.
Mindfulness – whether it's when stepping off a bus or knowing that you have switched off the iron before leaving home – should be ever-present at our interface between the material world and consciousness. In a way, the point of the cross where the spiritual crosses the material.
Meditation – on the other hand, is purposefully cutting the inner world of consciousness and the mind off from the noisy, distracting material world. Meditation is about calming oneself into a trance and entering the Flow from within an altered state.
I try to be mindful of the need to be mindful (metamindfulness) as often as I can!
Lent 2025: day 13
You, your consciousness and Time
Lent 2024: day 13
Aesthetics, metaphysics and ethics
High Church and Low: Religious Styles and Personality
Lent 2022: day 13
Comfort and Luxury, Consciousness and Ego
Lent 2021: day 13
Comfort and Luxury – knowing when to stop
Lent 2020: Day 13
Holy buildings and the sense of the mystical
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment