Reaching Mindfulness by Talking to a Philosopher
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In Korea, philosophy is a therapeutic profession. Philosophers in Korea don’t just sit in their offices and write. They talk to people. Many of these people are troubled, and many benefit from therapeutic sessions with practical philosophers.
Why and how does philosophy help with emotional, adjustment or marital problems, among many others? Practical philosophy, unlike academic philosophy, concentrates on the aesthetics of living. It focuses on the achievement of ‘mindfulness’ or, as we call it at SPPA ‘the zone’. Mindfulness is attention to one’s own inner reactions to experiences. It is also the continual appreciation of experiences, actions and decisions from the point of view of our quality of life. A person who has a mindful approach to life will still do many of the things that all others do, but will judge them on the basis of how they impact his quality of life. This difference in perspective produces tremendous improvements in the level of satisfaction with life. So what does it mean practically? For example, a mindful person, just like most other people, will work long hours when necessary, go to business trips or, sometimes, enter relationships without a full heart. These are just facts of life that, for many of us, are practically inevitable. However, while someone with a non-mindful attitude is likely to become ‘sucked in’ by career or suboptimal relationships, resulting in neurosis, the mindful person will keep a ‘count’: all of the inevitable experiences and decisions will be appraised from the point of view of how much they really contribute to, or detract from, the person’s satisfaction. The mindful person will trust her ‘inner count’: she will avoid doing too much of what detracts from her satisfaction when this is not necessary; in this way she will not be absorbed by the externally imposed ‘drives’: career, money, partnerships, etc. Secondly, the mindful person’s ‘count’ will allow her to compensate the experiences that detract from her satisfaction by engaging in activities that will ‘even out’ the count or lead to a surplus of satisfaction. In other words, the mindful person will ‘take care of herself’ emotionally and psychologically in way that most people have simply forgot. Mindfulness leads to changes in lifestyle: to more control over the quality of life and to better prioritizing. Where a person who is not mindful will go to as many business trips as the boss asks her to and spend as many long hours days at the office as requested to do, the mindful person will likely do the minimum necessary to appease the boss, while avoiding a good part. While the former person will likely spend her weekends drained of energy in bed, the mindful person will use the free days to address the inner ‘count’ of satisfaction. She is likely to spend her free days enjoying herself in ways important only to her. She is likely to end her inadequate relationships more quickly and with less subjective guilt. She is likely to be in better health. She is likely wiser. How does mindfulness impact personal happiness? We all have a psychic ‘zone’ of moods, attention and emotions within which we are not only the most effective, but also feel good about ourselves and the things we do. The zone is a familiar concept in the Eastern martial arts: being in the zone means maintaining control, judgement and critical appraisal while keeping the peace of mind. Once a fighter is out of his zone, the Eastern arts pretty much consider that he has already lost — the actual loss is just a matter of time and endurance. The zone is a concept that lends itself easily to general life issues. If the zone is a field of optimally positive moods and optimal performance, then the whole art of living could be described as the art of attaining and, more importantly, staying in the zone. Mindfulness clearly helps in achieving this. In fact, much of modern mass neurosis is due to millions of people being seduced away from a mindful self-reflection into a routine that keeps them constantly out of their zone. This is what so many counselees describe as a ‘loss of touch with their inner selves’. While this loss may and usually does seem permanent to those who experience it, luckily it can be overcome by returning to a mindful attitude and learning a set of tools to maintain both this attitude and ‘the zone’. This is the goal of talking to a philosopher. Philosophy can teach people to regain a sense of control of their lives and improve the quality of life. One of the topics in the curriculum of practical philosophy in Korea is: ‘Appreciating a Korean tea’. Contact for coaching and counseling: office@etika.edu.rs
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