Mindfulness, Buddhist Modernity and Cultural Psychology.

Mindfulness has been decoupled from its religious origins and appropriated in various Western contexts. Using Fircks as a starting point, the article discusses how cultural psychology should handle the historicity of such phenomena, suggesting two reminders: understanding phenomena through context-sensibility while being aware of disciplinary parochialism.

Study at a glance

Abstract

I will in this article use Fircks as a point of departure for trying to understand the complexities involved in the use of the concept of mindfulness. As will be seen, mindfulness can be traced to a decoupling from a religious background and subsequent appropriation within several Western contexts. This will then be used for a discussion of how to deal with the historicity of the phenomena studied within cultural psychology. Here two reminders will be suggested, namely understanding phenomena through a context-sensibility and at the same time being aware of any disciplinary parochialism.