In Mindlessness, Thomas Joiner provides a cogent critique of the mindfulness craze that permeates the contemporary cultural scene. He not only debunks the common misconception that research demonstrates the uniquely effective nature of mindfulness practice and mindfulness-based treatments, but also demonstrates the way in which the more valuable dimensions of the mindfulness based traditions are undermined by the narcissistic turn ... Read morethat contemporary culture has taken. Joiner argues that what he terms authentic mindfulness has been replaced by a corrupted form of mindfulness that emphasizes an egoistic preoccupation with gratifying our own needs, desires, and fantasies. In its place he argues for the importance of a more fundamental reorientation of our approach towards life that emphasizes a stoic emphasis on accepting life in its own terms and holds that happiness is a byproduct of the pursuit of virtue.
Jeremy D. Safran, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, New School for Psychotherapy Research There is a point in the evolution of all great ideas when-by virtue of their utter domination of the cultural zeitgeist-they are liable to become parodies of themselves. Thomas Joiner's incisive polemic, Mindlessness: The Corruption of Mindfulness in A Culture of Narcissism, convincingly argues that the venerable practice of mindfulness has undergone just such a transformation into unintentional self-satire; however, Joiner isn't laughing. With equal parts curmudgeonly bewilderment and righteous indignation, Joiner sets up a mirror to the legions of self-obsessed, faux mindfulness aficionados (whom he dubs the Narcissi ), indicting them for their misguided smugness and intellectual hypocrisy...Prudent, sincere, and occasionally hilarious, Joiner fills the role of social dissenter with gusto. And
at a moment when mindfulness is being peddled as an effective treatment for everything from trauma to tinnitus
it is a role that desperately needed filling.
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