Event

SG - The Meaning of Mindfulness: Reflecting on its Value in Times of Stress, Poverty, Conflict and Climate Change

What does the presence of mindfulness in our practice and discourse reflects about ourselves, the world we live in, and how we believe we can deal with the challenges of our time?

Organised by Studium Generale
Date

Mon 26 September 2022 20:00

Venue The Spot, Orion, building number 103

This event was originally scheduled for last spring, but had to be postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.

About The Meaning of Mindfulness: Reflecting on its Value in Times of Stress, Poverty, Conflict and Climate Change

After its popularity rise in the West over the past years, mindfulness seems to have become mainstream. So it might be time to ask: What is this mindfulness we are talking about? What is this full mind mindfulness speaks of? Is it about control or letting go? Is it a practice of being or of doing? Is it a semi-religious disposition or should we see it as a useful lifehack? Is it an egocentric practice of looking inwards, or does it rather make us more connected and sensitive to the world around us? Could it be a key to real societal transformation, or does it actually deflect us from addressing societal challenges and injustices by individualising and depoliticising structural problems?

Tonight we will discuss the seemingly paradoxical nature of mindfulness, and explore what its wide-spread presence in our practice and discourse reflects about ourselves, the world we live in, and how we believe we can deal with the challenges of our time. Join essayist Sanne Bloemink, psychologist Arthur Eaton and novelist Nina Polak for a thought-provoking dialogue!

About series ‘Mindfulness: Beyond the Hype?’

Will you become a better person after some mindfulness therapy? Is the world going to be a better place if more people are more mindful? Mindfulness has been a hype in the West for a while now, but what are we actually talking about?

In this series, we trace back the origins of mindfulness and discuss its current-day manifestations, explore its mechanisms and effects, and reflect on its societal meaning and role. And what can the popularity of mindfulness reveal about contemporary society? What is the value of this practice of attentiveness and rest in our current world?

About the speakers

Arthur Eaton
Arthur Eaton
Arthur Eaton is a psychologist and non-fiction writer, based in Brussels and Amsterdam. Arthur studied philosophy and psychology. In 2017 he received his PhD in psychoanalytic studies from University College London (UCL). He writes on psychology and related topics for De Groene Amsterdammer and NRC Handelsblad, among others.
Nina Polak
Nina Polak

Nina Polak studied at the University of Amsterdam and the New School University in New York. She writes for De Correspondent about modern love, psychiatry and society, with as main question: how does the modern human suffer? Previously, she was an editor with Propria Cures and published in De Groene Amsterdammer and De Gids. Her debut novel We zullen niet te pletter slaan (2014) was nominated for three prizes. For her second novel Gebrek is een groot woord (2018) Polak received the BNG Bank Literatuurprijs and the Inktaap award.
Sanne Bloemink
Sanne Bloemink

Sanne Bloemink is a non-fiction writer and essayist. She has written books on motherhood, the New York happiness industry, diagnostic label culture, and the way in which engineers, artists, writers, and thinkers seek to understand and experience connection with our material environment. In addition, she has been writing articles on a wide variety of subjects, mostly for the Groene Amsterdammer.