McMindfulness

How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality

By: Ronald E. Purser

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

A lively and razor-sharp critique of mindfulness as it has been enthusiastically co-opted by corporations, public schools, and the US military.

Mindfulness is now all the rage. From celebrity endorsements to monks, neuroscientists, and meditation coaches rubbing shoulders with CEO's at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it is clear that mindfulness has gone mainstream. Some have even called it a revolution.

But what if, instead of changing the world, mindfulness has become a banal form of capitalist spirituality that mindlessly avoids social and political transformation, reinforcing the neoliberal status quo?

In McMindfulness, Ronald Purser debunks the so-called "mindfulness revolution," exposing how corporations, schools, governments, and the military have co-opted it as technique for social control and self-pacification. A lively and razor-sharp critique, Purser busts the myths its salesmen rely on, challenging the narrative that stress is self-imposed and mindfulness is the cure-all.

If we are to harness the truly revolutionary potential of mindfulness, we have to cast off its neoliberal shackles, liberating mindfulness for a collective awakening.

©2019 Ronald Purser (P)2019 Tantor

Pronunciation

I loved this book, but did the narrator mispronounce every last name in this book? Lmao

The Dangers of a Dumbed-Down Dharma

As an elementary school teacher with twenty-five years of service, I’ve witnessed the negative impact of neoliberal economic policies on public education. Recently, my colleagues and I were given copies of Goldie Hawn’s MindUP curriculum with instructions to introduce mindfulness practices into our classrooms. Presumably, a little deep belly breathing accompanied by chimes will offset the damage done by cuts to support programs for our neediest and most vulnerable learners.

This is a timely and important book which I listened to twice in the span of a week. Given all the hype surrounding mindfulness, a sane, well-researched critical analysis like Ron Purser’s was badly needed.

McMazing!

What a wallop of a book packed with useful information, insight, and research! It took me so long to read because I kept stopping to bookmark pages. This book has earned its rightful place in the pantheon of books critical of the wellness industry like Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Bright-sided and William Davies, “The Happiness Industry.” One of my favorite books I read this year. Although, I’m sure it’s one of John Kabat-Zinn‘s least favorite books.

A lot of info

Narration is well done
The author is a communist and hates America. His take down of the self help culture is very well done. Ignore is support of Marxism and look for the pearls of knowledge

Much Needed

This book addressed a gnawing gap in the promotion of mindfulness and some eastern religious practices in the west. This book adroitly outlines how using the tools of mindfulness in service of capitalist objectives leaves us all generally worse off. Toxic positivity is just another form of denial. There are real problems in this world that are the result of human behavior and ideology, anything that encourages us to ignore that is not helpful, to say the least. This book was more insightful than I imagined and I highly recommend it.