Difference Between Mindfulness And Contemplation

1864 Words4 Pages

2. Mindfulness and Contemplation The Cambridge dictionary explains ‘mindfulness’ – “the practice of being aware of your body, mind, and feelings in the present moment, thought to create a feeling of calm: Mindfulness can be used to alleviate feelings of anxiety and depression.” This chapter takes a look at mindfulness and contemplation and how it can mean many things in many cultures, religions and faiths, and how it relates to photography. What is mindfulness is like asking ‘what is good?’. Grayling (2003) discusses this question by looking at a variety of other’s attempts of explanation. He states: “I have a point to argue, which is that mankind’s quest for the good has been a struggle between humanism, on the one hand, and religious conceptions of the world, on the other hand. The latter have proved resistant in the face of efforts by the former to free not just the imagination but the very life of man from the authority of religious world views, whether in the classical epoch, the Renaissance, or the eighteenth century and since. The durability of religious views might be variously explained, but one main historical reason is that most people are naturally superstitious …show more content…

A process for both the image maker and the viewer. The photographer and teacher George DeWolfe, a contemporary of Ansel Admas, (date unknown) says: “Contemplation is paying attention, right now, wherever you are. Contemplation notices things that cannot be accessed by language. It allows us to be calm and aware of our events and surroundings. Contemplation is neither frivolous nor spiritual. It is human. It is a skill. It is a choice. Thomas Merton called it, “…the direct intuition of reality…a direct grasp of the unity of the visible and the invisible…a plain fact, a pure experience, the very foundation of our being and

Show More
Related

  • Spare Time: The Positive Meaning Of A Spare Time

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    The purpose of contemplation is so that we can retain and preserve our memory whatever we have visually perceived. It is also such that we can see and not just be limited to the superficial reality.

    Read More

  • Mindfulness Intervention Essay

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many forms of mindfulness interventions, some of which include mindfulness based stress reduction, mindfulness based cognitive therapy, dialectic behavior therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy. Some mindfulness interventions incorporate mindfulness meditation practices and skills and others incorporate psychological and behavioral versions of mindfulness skills. Mindfulness based interventions entail mindfulness meditation practices and skills gathered from Buddhist philosophical origins, and transformed into a secular context to encompass a more universal perspective and application. Through mindfulness group and in-home practices, individuals develop mindfulness skills and attitudes, which include focusing, maintaining attention through focusing on ones breath, accepting one’s current circumstance and experience, which also includes awareness of physical sensations, all by taking a non-judgmental stance. Furthermore, the three primary components of mindfulness are attitude, attention, and intention. Attitudinal components include non-judgment, acceptance, trust, patience, curiosity, and kindness; Attentional components include maintaining focus and the ability to switch focuses; Intentional components include having an intention to practice and to intentionally self-regulate ones attention. Incorporating these concepts into ones life helps the individual be able to shift their habitual patterns through observation and recognition, and embark on a path of reflective response rather than maladaptive reactive behavior (Burke,

    Read More

  • Essay On Mindfulness Mediation

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    For thousands of years people have practiced mediation for spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. Albeit there are many mediation types, in this paper I will be discussing and focusing on mindfulness mediation. Before further exploring mindfulness mediation, it is crucial to define mediation as a whole. Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016 state “Meditation can be defined as a form of mental training that aims to improve an individual’s core psychological capacities, such as attentional and emotional capacities” (p.213). Having that in mind, we can dive into mindfulness mediation. Mindfulness meditation is defined as “nonjudgmental attention to present-moment experiences (Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016).” A useful analogy to consider is going to the gym, going to the gym allows one to enhance the body, well similarly, practicing mindfulness is akin to taking the mind to the psychic gym, it enhances it. Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on your breathing and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present all while dismissing discursive thoughts and maintaining a special focus on breathing.

    Read More

  • Buddhism and Modern Psychology Final Exam Essay

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    05 May 2014. Barbor, Cary. " The Science of Meditation.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Mindfulness

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mindfulness involves accepting our thoughts and emotions without judgment, and without believing that there is a right or wrong way to feel in a given situation. Our thoughts and emotions are not labeled as good or bad. They are observed as simply happening until they pass. While practicing mindfulness one does not rehash the past or imagine the future. Attention is focused on what is being sensed in the present moment. There is a sense of self apart from things. Mindfulness is moment to moment awareness and purposefully placing attention on things that we wouldn’t normally give a second thought to. Mindfulness can be thought of as a way of being, rather than an activity. It is the awareness of wondering thoughts and purposefully directing them back, rather than letting them

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Christianity And Islam

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion is an organized collection of beliefs and cultural systems that entail the worship of a supernatural and metaphysical being. “Religion just like other belief systems, when held onto so much, can stop one from making significant progress in life”. Together with religion come traditions that provide the people with ways to tackle life’s complexities. A subscription to the school of thought of great scholars

    Read More

  • Axial Age Religions Essay

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are several key outputs of human society throughout history, but none are more important than humanity’s relationships with the supernatural and the uncertainty of the afterlife. Religions have served many purposes through human history, originally being used to fill in the gaps of knowledge about the natural world with supernatural explanations. These religions evolved into complex semi-political entities that have influenced many aspects of human history, by unifying large populations and connecting humans with one another across continents. Religious systems have persisted through human history because they are flexible, they accommodate for changes in political structures. According to J.R. and William H. McNeill, the most important

    Read More

  • The Dividing Force of Religion

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    Religion has the power to bind one to others as well as the aptitude to alienate people with conflicting beliefs. Throughout history, cultures have created several different belief systems, each with its own ideals, to satisfy the typical human curiosity and explain the unclarified events that occur in nature. Inspecting the role of religion from the earliest civilizations to the present, its tendency to divide rather than unify groups becomes apparent.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Mindful

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin with, mindfulness is when someone can pay attention to the present moment “without being devoted to different points of view” (Martin, 1997). Along with staying focused on the present moment, mindfulness is when the particular person does not judge the current experience as the person tries to comprehend the present situation. Mindfulness makes a person reflect on one’s self by not only figuring out one’s thoughts, but also the feelings that go along with it. The complex nature of mindfulness demonstrates that it has multiple purposes that cultivates a person into realizing the potential of the brain (Davis & Hayes,

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Mindfulness

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    Practicing mindfulness is something that most people probably have on their daily to-do list, but never getting around to it because they either don’t believe it’ll work or feel too busy with their lives to stop for literally just a minute to breathe. When going into this activity, my to-do is exactly what was in mind. It’s the list that is never completed. So, having this as an actual assignment was exactly what I needed to get a jumpstart on my mindfulness techniques in my daily life.

    Read More

  • John Courtney Murray's The Problem Of God

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    For as long as the human race can remember, religion has played a massive role in peoples lives. However, as time has gone on, there has been a ton of debate and disbelief in the concept of religion. Hundreds of theologians and philosophers have pondered over the relevance of a deity. In John Courtney Murray’s, The Problem of God, he depicts the relationship between God existence and his subjects throughout history. Either God is prevalent in the lives of humans and promotes intuition or he hinders the human race to excelling to their fullest potential.

    Read More

  • Mindfulness Meditation Essay

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the past two decades, many philosophers, spiritual leaders, and psychological transitions have accentuated the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance and enhancement of well-being. One of the characteristics of consciousness that has been discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness. In concentration with the psychology discipline, mindfulness meditation practices have been increasingly used to treat a majority of pain, stress and anxiety-related conditions and also, increasing well-being. The ideology of mindfulness meditation has core roots in Buddhist philosophy and other pensive traditions where awareness and conscious attention are actively cultured (Brown, Kirk Warren,2003).

    Read More

  • Religion In The 20th Century

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion has accompanied humankind throughout its history. It is also present in all nations and has maintained a close relationship with all cultures for a long time. As several specialized publications report, all religions have expressed themselves through the own human genius, the specific conditions and circumstances of each nation and the idea that every man is inhabited by a soul and he cannot exist by himself, i.e., counting only on its own resources. Historical and cultural variants of different human groups explain the plurality and variety of religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, among others). However, a common characteristic of them all is the presence on human beings of something beyond the horizon of their own beings, their projects and their works.

    Read More

  • Blaise Pascal's Wager

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion has always been a major part of mankind’s history. Since the very beginning of the human race, people have been worshipping and have dedicated their lives to God; the earliest kind of worshipping can be traced back to about 295,000 years BCE. Over the years, humanity has assisted to the creation of numerous religions, however, with the development of modern science and the several researches, people slowly start to lose faith and need more proves to believe in God’s existence. In a progressive society like ours, people tend to ask themselves “Is God real?” We are going to try to answer this existential question by studying in a first part Blaise Pascal’s Wager theory to support God’s existence, Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy in a

    Read More

  • Mindful Essay: My Journey With Mindfulness

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    It provides the necessary tools for you to be successful in listening to your inner self and in becoming more aware of the moment you are in without passing judgement on yourself or others. It is not a “one size fits all” book. It offers a variety of tips and techniques that even the worst skeptic of mindfulness may find beneficial. Authors: S.J. Scott & Barrie Davenport have produced this book in an instructive format. Each mindfulness step begins with the reasons why it is important and the benefits one may receive from practicing it.

    Read More

More about Difference Between Mindfulness And Contemplation

Open Document