A statue of a buddhist practicing mindfulness meditation in front of a lake

Why do Buddhists encourage the practice of mindfulness? How can mindfulness change society?

Buddhism and modern science agree that we’re caught in a cycle of dissatisfaction, and it’s largely because we don’t see reality. Robert Wright says that although science validates this belief, Buddhism offers a solution: mindfulness meditation

Let’s look at the benefits of Buddhist mindfulness meditation below.

Mindfulness Can Improve Individual Lives

Wright explains that Buddhist mindfulness meditation, a practice from the Vipassana tradition of Theravada Buddhism, involves observing your inner experience with greater objectivity.

While you can practice observing thoughts, feelings, and much more, Wright argues that it’s at the level of feeling that we most need to become mindful. This is because, as discussed above, feelings propel our thoughts and actions—not the other way around. Science supports the idea that we should become mindful of our feelings: For instance, research suggests that paying mindful attention to the feeling of the craving to smoke can be a more effective addiction treatment than medication or nicotine patches. 

Each time you mindfully observe a feeling that would typically drive you to action, you create space between that impulse and your response to it. Over time, you learn to step back from your feelings—to watch them pass by from a newfound vantage point alongside your stream of consciousness. Having stepped out of that stream, you’re less likely to get swept away by its contents. For example, you’ll be less likely to give in to a compulsion to scroll through social media instead of staying focused, or a craving to binge another show rather than getting a good night’s sleep. 

In this way, practicing mindfulness teaches you to respond, rather than react, to whatever comes along. And as Wright says, this has many benefits: It can help you change your habits, help you see your life more clearly, promote your happiness, and make you more moral. We’ll detail each of these benefits below.

Mindfulness for Habit Change

According to Wright, mindfulness is an effective way to change your habits. He says that mental modules are like muscles—they strengthen in response to repetition or weaken in response to disuse. So, to change your habits, reinforce or deplete modules by simply applying the above practice (step back from, observe, and let pass the feelings that drive an urge). If you want to reinforce a habit, mindfully choose to do so. Likewise, you can mindfully choose not to reinforce unconstructive modules. 

For instance, say you mindfully observe and let pass an urge to get angry at someone who insults you. By doing so, you’ll weaken your “anger module” by teaching it that anger isn’t rewarding. At the same time, you’ll strengthen your “self-improvement” module by practicing mindfulness and gaining the reward of releasing an unproductive impulse.

Mindfulness for Clarity, Happiness, and Morality

Wright also contends that mindfulness practice has three key benefits—clarity, happiness, and morality—that reinforce one another. He suggests they interact like this: 

  • As you practice mindfully observing your inner world, you’ll gain distance from your impulses and reactions, giving you a clearer view of yourself and the world around you.
  • As clarity builds, you’ll naturally feel happier and more at ease. Becoming less reactive and seeing things clearly tends to feel good and calming. 
  • Increased happiness and ease, in turn, motivate you to continue practicing. Seeing that the practice is rewarding, you’ll want to stick to it. And the more you practice, the more clearly you’ll see things. 
  • More surprising, Wright says, is that a clearer view and the calm it brings also tend to make you behave more morally. He explains that scientists don’t quite know why this is, but expert meditators say it’s typically true.

Mindfulness Can Change Our Shared Future

Last, Wright contends that mindfulness meditation could help bring about a “metacognitive revolution.” He believes this is necessary for humanity to overcome major global challenges, like war and climate change. 

(Shortform note: Wright’s choice of the phrase “metacognitive revolution” is telling. While “metacognition” simply refers to our ability to observe and understand our thought processes, his use of “revolution” frames meditation as something more transformative than just a personal practice. Revolutions are radical—for instance, both the Industrial and Digital Revolutions fundamentally changed how society operates. By using this phrasing, then, Wright suggests that widespread mindfulness practice could broadly reorganize society. Such a change would involve not just individual growth and maturation, but also the transformation of global society.)

By teaching us to observe our thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them, mindfulness helps us see beyond our knee-jerk reactions, biases, and prejudices. Seeing things more clearly, we can then respond thoughtfully, rather than react impulsively, when involved in disagreements or conflicts along “tribal” lines. 

For instance, imagine that a climate change activist and a climate change skeptic have a dialogue in which both practice being mindful of their reactionary feelings. In doing so, they could share their fears, desires, and motivations, and thereby have a productive exchange, rather than simply berating one another over their differences.

Wright acknowledges that mindfulness alone won’t fix everything, but he sees it as a necessary part of overcoming humanity’s major struggles and connecting the global human community. One individual, group, and network at a time, he says, people can become less reactive, more empathetic, and more aware of our interconnectedness. In time, the widespread adoption of mindfulness could help us tackle complex, hot-button global issues more skillfully, wisely, and compassionately.

Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation: The Many Benefits

Katie Doll

Somehow, Katie was able to pull off her childhood dream of creating a career around books after graduating with a degree in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. Her preferred genre of books has changed drastically over the years, from fantasy/dystopian young-adult to moving novels and non-fiction books on the human experience. Katie especially enjoys reading and writing about all things television, good and bad.

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