THOUGHT ISLAMIC JIHAD & TERRORISM
WAS BAD?
SO IS BUDDHIST MINDFULNESS
AS AN OPENING TO THE
OCCULT DEMONIC REALM
DEVOID OF JESUS CHRIST
MINDFULNESS: THE SINGLE MOST IMPACTFUL ASPECT OF BUDDHISM IN AMERICA
WARNING:
(Caution: This author is sympathetic to mindfulness and believes it can be separated from Buddhism per se, which it cannot. Another example is the belief that Yoga can be separated from Hinduism, which is
wrong also. See this blog's posts under Mindfulness, Yoga, YMCA, Pantheism, Universalism)
BY JUSTIN WHITAKER
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes
In an intriguing recent lecture, scholar of Western Buddhism Jeff Wilson makes the claim that mindfulness is, in fact, Buddhism’s largest single impact on North America. The evidence is more than compelling: from books by Congressman Tim Ryan (A Mindful Nation) and Google’s “Jolly Good Fellow” Chade-Meng Tan (Search Inside Yourself) – shown meeting President Obama – to news reports in nearly every major media outlet and new movements to get mindfulness practice into schools, medicine, police stations, and the military.Historically, Wilson points out, “mindfulness” comes from the Pali term sati, which can certainly mean mindfulness, awareness, etc, but also means to remember (a connotation of the English term that has largely dropped out of its contemporary “present focused” usage). For instance, a common practice in Buddhism is “mindfulness of the Buddha” wherein one calls to mind a memory of the Buddha and/or his qualities in meditation. And perhaps most importantly, in the Buddhist context, mindfulness is part of the path to awakening, of overcoming the cycle of suffering we are in as ignorant sentient beings. This, Wilson states, is in nice contrast to the “American approach” where Mindfulness = enhancement of life’s joys.So instead of undertaking mindfulness practice along with a lifestyle that distances one from the activities that perpetuate suffering, an American mindfulness practitioner keeps doing those things, but simply enjoys them more.Wilson goes on to give a great example of an earlier way that Buddhism adapted itself to a new (for it) society: Japan. Buddhism, as he notes, and researchers know well, has been and still is ever-changing within certain constraints. This is why many statements that begin, “Traditional Buddhism is…” are false or at best misleading. Too often Western practitioners have either an idealized/romanticized or demonized version of some Asian society and the Buddhism practiced there. They then insist that today’s Buddhism is either better than that or fails to live up to it in whatever ways reflect their personal preferences or hobby-horse.Seeing Buddhism as this flowing stream, we can ask better questions about it. Rather than asking if this or that is true or fake (which may be fun for riling up forces on both sides, generally different factions of practicing Buddhists), we can ask questions like “why is this change occurring?” or “How does this new stream provide benefit in the new society?”Wilson suggests that the Mindfulness focused form of Buddhism entering into North America emphasizes Mindfulness, Suffering, and Compassion while minimizing previous important teachings such as No-self, Impermanence and Nirvana. And this is just part of the story, the part where Mindfulness is claimed to be a facet of Buddhism. On the other hand, Wilson quotes Jon Kabat-Zinn as writing that:Mindfulness, the heart of Buddhist meditation, is at the core of being able to live life as if it really matters. It has nothing to do with Buddhism. It has to do with freedom. Mindfulness is so powerful that the fact that it comes out of Buddhism is irrelevant.With this accepted, mindfulness can be placed in any of a variety of frameworks, from Kabat-Zinn’s medical/therapeutic framework to a more pleasure-oriented and individualistic framework typical of much of American culture. Wilson brilliantly demonstrates this with slide after slide of mindful eating, mindful sex, mindful work, and mindful parenting books, asking the audience if there is anything more American than obsessing over our eating, sex lives, work, and parenting.Wilson follows with an equally brilliant breakdown of the marketing angle behind Mindful Magazine and the many mindfulness products sold there, focusing on one by a company called BUDHAGIRL: MINDFUL GLAMOUR (that starts at around 1-hour in and I highly recommend it):In summary, Wilson describes mindfulness as:
- The most popular aspect of Buddhism in America
- Practically oriented, focused on worldly benefits (not transcendence or liberation)
- Focusing on Middle class concerns, affirming the world, body, work, health, and certain desires
- Ever-more disconnected from Buddhism’s past, obscuring certain parts or cutting off historical ties completely
- Commodified into a product in itself or as an add-on benefit to set one product apart from otherwise identical competitors
This is all an amazing amount of food for thought. I think it is certainly true and perceptive to say that mindfulness is the biggest thing Buddhism has brought to N. America and I know that Buddhists are grappling with this (what about ethics? what about wisdom? – the other two parts of the basic 3-fold path). And it’s also important to point out that mindfulness is being used on this spectrum, ranging from very overtly Buddhist-connected to the “Mindful Glamour” label being used to sell jewelry and mindful sex books.
Oh, and there’s an excellent question/point brought up by Jon Kabat-Zinn himself at the end of the talk, don’t miss that.
______________________________________________________
TURNING STUDENTS INTO
NON-JUDGEMENTAL ZOMBIES
JUST GIDDY ABOUT THE KIDS
GOING TO A MONASTERY
A GLOBAL PROGRAM BRINGING
MINDFULNESS TO STUDENTS
Published on Oct 15, 2015
With mindfulness resources and programs readily available to students at the University of Virginia's Contemplative Sciences Center, it's easy to say they have an advantage over the rest. But what about other students—and people in general—across the country and around the globe who don't have access to UVA's unique facility? In this video interview with Sonima's founder, Sonia Jones, and David Germano, the director of the Contemplative Sciences Center, discuss a global solution to expanding these special programs beyond the campus.
“We're starting a program called the Contemplative University,” says Germano. The web-based school, supported by UVA, will be free and available to anyone seeking instruction and learning tools on contemplative practices. It will function like any university offering content-specific classes and lectures with a contemplatively-based approach to education across several subjects—including humanities, health sciences, business, education, architecture, law, engineering, and much more—plus social networking within the contemplative community. Watch this short clip to learn more about this exciting new platform designed to help people integrate contemplative practice into their lives regardless of their zip code or economic status.
Mindfulness Students Talk
YOUNG STUDENTS AT OXFORD, ENGLAND
ALREADY BRAINWASHED
VERY YOUNG CHILDREN ARE TAUGHT
WARPING THE MINDS OF THE YOUNG &
IMPRESSIONABLE WITH ANOTHER RELIGION,
ALTHOUGH NOT IDENTIFIED AS SUCH
SEE OUR OLDER POSTS ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF
MINDFULNESS IN THE WORKPLACE AND IN HEALTHCARE
SEE ALSO: http://freebeacon.com/issues/feds-spend-2-5-million-on-mindfulness-intervention-for-kindergarteners/
The New Age, Occultism, and Our Children in Public Schools
SEE: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=17735
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes
By Berit Kjos
Kjos Ministries
“Softening Up” For Occult Revival—Hermetic Magic & Hegel’s Dialectic Process
Why would our country, so richly blessed by God, embrace the occult? What caused this drastic change in values? How could it have happened so seemingly fast?!
Actually, the entire Western world had already been “softened up” by the 1960s when the rising rebellion against God erupted into public view. The century-old pursuit of social solidarity based on Georg Hegel’s occult philosophy and consensus process had been an effective tool for change.
Hegel’s 19th century pattern for “group thinking” denied God’s absolute truths and trained people to adapt to “continual change” and group consensus. By the year 2000, it had been embraced by schools, corporations, community organizations, mainline churches, and political structures throughout America. Through the global media, people around the world have caught Hegel’s vision of spiritual synthesis—an enticing blend of spiritual illusions and practices that appeal to our capricious human nature.
Hegel studied alchemy, Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), and theosophy, which were all influenced by the heretical teachings of Gnosticism. He “read widely on Mesmerism, psychic phenomena, dowsing, precognition, and sorcery. He publicly associated himself with known occultists . . . and aligned himself, informally, with ‘Hermetic’ societies such as the Freemasons and the Rosicrucians” and embraced their symbolic systems of sacred circles, mystical triangles and astrological signs.1
Considering Hegel’s occult connections, it’s not surprising that his teachings would undermine biblical faith and all opposing facts. Nor is it strange that the postmodern (or some now say pseudo-modern) generation has been, by and large, inoculated and indoctrinated against genuine Christianity. After all, Hegel’s revolutionary dialectic process was the center-piece and hallmark of Soviet brainwashing. It effectively purged God’s unchanging truths and filled the vacuum with evolving “truths” and enticing dreams.
While Communist leaders embraced Hegel’s process, they ignored his occult beliefs. In contrast, the Western world began to restore those pagan roots long before revolutionary baby-boomers began proclaiming and shouting out their demands for sensual freedom and earth-centered spirituality. In other words, the ’60s didn’t initiate this radical change; the turmoil of the ’60s was the result of the psycho-social program of “re-learning” which had begun to transform America decades earlier.
As the old moral and spiritual boundaries were torn down, the mainstream media preached tolerance and acceptance of all kinds of forbidden thrills. Before long, occult secrets emerged from their centuries-old closets and claimed their place in mainstream entertainment.
We who trust God need to recognize our enemy, resist his tempting strategies, and know the truths that counter these deadly deceptions. The very safety of our children depends on it.
Yoga in Schools
There’s no arguing it, children in public schools are learning Yoga. According to Yoga instructor, Mark Blanchard, of Progressive Power Yoga, he taught children at Colfax Elementary School in California. On his blog, he wrote: “I will be introducing Yoga to all of the kids at the school as I donate a full Yoga program.”2 Blanchard has been featured in many magazines such as Family Circle and Seventeen and has trained many actors and actresses (like Jennifer Lopez and Drew Barrymore).3 Blanchard plans to “bring Progressive Power Yoga to as many places as [he] can around the states (as well as the globe).”4
Part of Blanchard’s plans include working with Mini Yogis Yoga for Kids. On the Mini Yogis website, they list not only Blanchard’s company but many other organizations as well, many of which are schools like Happy Land Preschool in Culver City and St. Monica’s Elementary School in Santa Monica 5 (both in California).
Yoga for kids is on the rise, and if your child attends public school, you may want to check to see if teachers there are teaching him or her Yoga. A program called YogaEd provides Yoga classes under the heading of “health/wellness” programs for schools. These programs take place in several states including California, Colorado, New York, Washington and Washington, D.C.6
In an article titled “Yoga Causes Controversy in Public Schools,” veteran apologist Dave Hunt is referenced and quoted:
Dave Hunt, who has traveled to India to study yoga’s roots and interview gurus, called the practice “a vital part of the largest missionary program in the world” for Hinduism. The Bend, [Oregon] author of Yoga and the Body of Christ: What Position Should Christians Hold? said that, like other religions, the practice has no place in public schools.“It’s pretty simple: Yoga is a religious practice in Hinduism. It’s the way to reach enlightenment. To bring it to the west and bill it as a scientific practice for fitness is dishonest,” said Hunt.7
Parents whose children are in Christian schools may need to be concerned too. More and more churches and Christian organizations are opening their doors to the practice of Yoga. And the biggest Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, published a book titled Yoga for Christians in 2006. It’s just a matter of time before kids in Christian schools will be learning Yoga and the “art” of meditation.
It is tragic to know that countless public school children are being taught practices that are rooted in Eastern mysticism and will learn how to say “Namaste” (the god in me greets the god in you) before they learn they can have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ without going into altered states of consciousness through meditation. And it is equally tragic that many Christians will not even be able to help them because they are learning similar practices through their own “Spiritual Formation” (i.e, contemplative spirituality) programs in their churches.
Meditation in the Classroom
An article in The Capitol Times titled “Kid Contemplatives: UW Neuroscientist’s Project Aims to Give Middle-Schoolers Tools of ‘Mindfulness’ and Meditation” tells about a pilot project done with middle school students that studied the effects of “contemplation in the classroom.”8 The article states:
Middle school students are being targeted because early adolescence is a time of heightened vulnerability due to body and brain changes. . . .Centering prayer, meditation, breath work, chanting, sitting in silence, extended concentration on an object and focusing on positive thoughts and images are examples of contemplative exercises that can be taught.9
Neuroscientist Richard Davidson, who was the chair for the project, wants to use his research in meditative practices by studying the brains of Buddhist monks, in the classroom. Davidson, named by Time magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2006, and others like him are making inroads into meditation becoming the norm in schoolroom settings.
In The Capitol Times article, contemplative activist and Catholic priest Thomas Keating is quoted as saying that meditation in the classroom is “not a religious issue” and that “sitting in silence for twenty minutes, twice a day, ‘gradually introduces us to our deeper self.’”10 But the article contradicts Keating’s view that meditation is not religious:
Like Buddhist meditation, centering prayer for Christians is an age-old religious practice that has experienced a revival in contemporary times.11
And as this article reveals, children are being targeted with meditation:
“Most people without a special (contemplative) practice tend to be pushed around by external events,” Keating contends. In classrooms, “the younger the child, the easier it is” to teach contemplation because young participants typically aren’t impeded by as much emotional baggage.12
As one researcher of the New Age explains:
The field of education presents an ideal setting for transformation. In virtually every area of education and instruction, from kindergarten to universities, from weekend workshops to family counseling sessions, the Ancient Wisdom is being taught either up front or covertly. This is largely happening because teachers, principals, and other administrators in particular have become involved in metaphysics.13
While not every public school has introduced meditation in their classrooms yet, more and more schools are implementing Yoga and other forms of Eastern-style meditation practices into students’ lives.
(Berit Kjos is the author of How to Protect Your Child From the New Age and Spiritual Deception, a must-read book for every Christian parent. In the chapter this article was extracted from, there are also sections on Sesame Street, the Girl Scouts, Halloween, and more.)
Endnotes:
1. Glenn Alexander Magee, Hegel, and the Hermetic Tradition (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2001), pp. 1-3. This Hermetic Tradition originated in Egypt. According to the Gnostic Society, “The Hermetic tradition is usually understood as a form of ‘pagan Gnosticism,’ developing in Egypt during the same historical period that saw the flowering of the Christian Gnostic tradition.” (From: http://www.faculty.umb.edu/gary_zabel/Courses/Phil%20281b/Philosophy%20of%20Magic/Arcana/Gnostic%20Texts/lectures.html).
2. Mark Blanchard, “Family Yoga Practice” (November 4, 2006, http://web.archive.org/web/20090620224738/http://www.progressivepoweryoga.com/blog/2006/11/family-yoga-practice.html).
3. http://www.markblanchardsyoga.com/about-mark-blanchard.html.
4. Mark Blanchard, “Family Yoga Practice,” op. cit.
5. Mini Yogis: Yoga for Kids: http://www.miniyogis.com/clients.htm.
6. Yoga Ed. in Action: http://www.yogaed.com/action.html.
7. “Yoga Causes Controversy in Public Schools” (Associated Press, January 28, 2007, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16859368/ns/health-childrens_health/t/yoga-causes-controversy-public-schools/).
8. “Kid Contemplatives: UW Neuroscientist’s Project Aims to Give Middle-Schoolers Tools of ‘Mindfulness’ and Meditation” (The Capital Times, November 9, 2007, http://psyphz.psych.wisc.edu/web/News/captimes_11-8-07.html).
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Ray Yungen, For Many Shall Come in My Name (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails, 2nd ed., 2007), p. 66.
