Many people go to a 9-sessions Mindfulness course and find the experience agreeable. After the end of the course, many don\u2019t find it worthwhile. They had higher expectations. Some expected to get rid of their mental problems. Others went to the course to gain lasting happiness, or to gain \u2018enlightenment\u2019. To many, it doesn\u2019t work out that way.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s to blame? Nobody.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Also, Mindfulness is not a homogenous domain. Many teachers fill it in with personal ideas. The most important distinction is to me that between what I call \u2018Open Mindfulness\u2019 and \u2018Closed Mindfulness.\u2019 It\u2019s the same distinction as between open attention and closed attention. Very important: this is not about the object of attention but its source, the person giving the attention. It\u2019s about how he uses his mind, not the direction his attention goes into.<\/p>\n
Within the world of Mindfulness, the terms \u2018focused\u2019 and \u2018open\u2019 are regularly used regarding the object of attention.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Contrary to this, the distinction that I here make specifically regarding the source of attention is seldom made in Mindfulness. Nevertheless, in Zen Buddhism \u2013 where Mindfulness comes from \u2013 this distinction is essential. Most Zen people haven\u2019t been efficient in making this clear to a Western public. It is not easy. Please see open and closed attention as the extremes of a continuum. \u2018Closed\u2019 means that whatever you are thinking of, can be easily named. You go in your thoughts from distinct concept to distinct concept. True poetry for instance can never essentially be grasped this way, nor any art for that matter.<\/p>\n
At the other extreme, open attention is inspired.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It is the thinking of the visual artist, but also of the inspired writer or scientist. It is the way of the genius violinist. It is the way of the meditator who clears his mind of conceptual thoughts, striving towards so-called emptiness, which is not empty altogether, but empty of\u2026 concepts. Open versus closed \u2013 both can occur together. Still, the distinction is crucial.<\/p>\n
If Mindfulness equals Thoughtfulness \u2013 as it does to many in the field \u2013 then it is definitely a wrong term. A better term would then be Mind-less-ness, meaning: no thoughts are preventing emptiness as what is regarded in Zen to be a source of immense possibilities. Indeed: happiness, enlightenment\u2026 though most probably not after a mere 9 sessions.<\/p>\n