Another Hot New Gadget

We love new gadgets, especially when it has the word ‘”new” attached to it. Even if it is the same-old, same-old ad nauseum approach throughout history. These new-fangled therapies become viral very quickly and a whole new group of specialized therapist spring into action. This new one is called mindfulness or mindfulness meditation. So what is new about it? Nothing.

What does it claim to do? And how come it gets such huge space in scientific journals?

So here is a quote from a scientific journal (New Scientist): “Training allows us to transform the mind, to overcome destructive emotions and to dispel suffering.” (New Scientist, “Everybody say OM”. 8, Jan. 2011). Where have we heard that before? EST perhaps, Cognitive Behavioral, trans blah blah, EMDR and so on.

And so what is the basis for all this? Enthusiasm and perseverance, (their words). But they quickly add, “What does science say about all this?” Using MRI”s they measured the brain of experienced meditators. And they believe that the time you spend investigating the nature of your mind is well spent.

The researchers spent three months following the 60 acolytes at a retreat in Colorado. What the subjects did was concentrate on their breathing, tactile sensations and to the sensation of breathing itself. As time went on they became more skilled on judging a line that was shorter than the others; a measure of attention span and reaction time. The clicked a mouse when they noticed a shorter line. That’s it folks! You wanted something more substantial? Not here. You see, science is really about the criteria you use to measure you notion of progress. And so here you have a so-called “objective” measure. Here again we are faced with statistical truths. There are variations on this theme. Another study had subjects pick out different tones to see how well they perceive and have sustained concentration.

And how does focusing on your breath every day help focusing? They say it adds to working memory. Anyway let me repeat ad infinitum: we are historical beings. What happens to us, our dreams, symptoms, behavior and concentration is a result of OUR HISTORY. All of this doesn’t suddenly spring up to show itself in how badly we concentrate; nor does a real change suddenly spring up and show itself to the world. How can we ignore hjstory and make progress? When that history has to do with whether there is progress or not. We have found that early trauma can stimulate the system, overexcite it so that there is a continuous massive input from inside; from the early imprint, that overwhelms the ability to focus and concentrate. And when we take the force/pain out of the system there is enhanced concentration. How can we neglect these historical forces and help anyone? We can if we are satisfied with temporary help but no here-and-now therapy which treats in a non-historical way can produce permanent serious changes. If we believe they can then we cannot believe in the memory imprint that guides our behavior and helps produce symptoms, whether of migraine or high blood pressure. Or we believe that we can circumvent history and find a way around it. I have never found a way. Ahistoric therapies have found ways to make you feel better or ways to convince yourself that you feel good but that at best is a chimera. Tricks of the mind. Not only can we be deceived by others but more importantly we can be deceived by ourselves; and that is the greatest deception because we believe the self that is alienated from the real being, the feeling self. That self believes in lies because it has no feeling base to help it judge things. Mindfulness is another mindf----; an apotheosis of mental gyrations that is akin to evangelicals who do not believe in remote history. And if I say that ADD is partially caused by memories occasioned during birth and gestation, that remote, I will not be believed. Mindfulness is, in short, psychoevangelicalism. “We live in the near present and that is that.”

So here is where we get down to the nitty-gritty. “Meditation does not remove the sensation of pain so much as teach sufferers to control their emotional reaction to it, there reducing the stress response. In bried—denial. And it is the job of the prefrontal cortex to suppress emotions. Here there is a recognition that it cannot do its job properly without help. So a whole industry has grown up with no knowledge of the brain and how it works; an Industry of denial, suppression and ignorance of the truth. Of course this can help cognitive performance as they claim but can it improve emotional access? That is the key question. We are feeling beings, not just thinking animals. Only academics can see it backwards, apotheosizing mental cognition to the neglect of emotions. ayayay