Corporate mindfulness is bullsh*t: Zen or no Zen, you’re working harder and being paid less
Jason
God EmperorArrakis Moderator
A few random thoughts from reading this article, which a friend brought to my attention:
"Corporate mindfulness is bullsh*t: Zen or no Zen, you’re working harder and being paid less"
Capitalism can turn anything into a commodity. I mean, they sell Leninade at Safeway, so it's no surprise that the same is true of mindfulness meditation and Buddhist aphorisms, which I think generally become devoid of their original substance when commodified.
I agree with Bhikkhi Bodhi that, "absent a sharp social critique, Buddhist practices could easily be used to justify and stabilize the status quo, becoming a reinforcement of consumer capitalism." Mindfulness itself is a tool, and like any tool, its usefulness depends on how it's utilized. In Buddhism, mindfulness of one of seven other factors utilized to develop insight into the mind and body, cultivate skillful states of mind (compassion, generosity, harmlessness, sympathetic joy, etc.), and reduce suffering. It's part of a larger way of life aimed at making our lives as happy and our actions as skillful as possible. When divorced from that framework, it can serve to help increase attention and memory as well as reduce stress, but doesn't go much deeper than that. So couple that with capitalism, with its protestant work ethic, focus on 'efficiency' and need for specifically quantities of labour time to create profit above what's actually needed for production, and mindfulness can become a useful tool/commodity for capital serving to keep workers more productive as well as passive.
I've seen a lot of critiques of Buddhism and/or Buddhist practices from leftists in past couple of years because it's not revolutionary enough for them (e.g., Zizek) and I can sort of understand where they're coming from. Buddhism is a contemplative religion/philosophy. It's extremely introspective, so it's not as socially engaged as other spiritual traditions. That said, the practice is meant to make the practitioner more generous, compassionate, and mindful of the external world and the effects of their actions (i.e., whether they cause pleasure/happiest or pain/suffering for themselves and others), so there is the space for radicalism and social engagement even if it's not an explicit tenet of Buddhism proper. Plus, capitalism didn't exist 2,500 years ago, so I don't think we can really blame the Buddha for not adding 'abolish capitalism' to the eightfold path.
The term 'mindfulness revolution' reminds me of an article I read a while back, "Occupy Buddhism: Or Why the Dalai Lama is a Marxist," which explores the rather unlikely partnership of Buddhism and Marxism, and the need for Buddhism to consciously "enter the movement of the real and be engaged with the struggle to end suffering, and man's inhumanity to man" instead of continuing its transformation into "a fetish that ultimately enables the status quo to maintain its continuing control, dominance, and expansion."
In the article, Smithers asks, "Does [Buddhism] have the legs of an emancipatory religion, a religion of liberation with the power to transform societies and cultures?" and seems to answer in the affirmative. And from my own experience, I'm inclined to agree. Buddhism definitely has that potential.
Before I became interested in Buddhism, for example, I didn't really have any political-economic views to speak of. In fact, I was more or less completely uninterested in politics whatsoever. After years of studying and practicing Buddhism, however, I began to take more of an active interest in the world. This was partially due to cultivating compassion and being more sensitive the suffering of others, as well as Buddhism's encouragement to analyze our actions and their effects in the world in an effort to make ourselves and the world a better place. And in this aspect, I've found the seemingly unrelated aims of Buddhism and Marxism to be quite complementary.
To me, the main difference between the approaches of Buddhism and Marxism is one of focus; whereas the Buddha's focus was primarily on how to liberate the individual from their mental suffering by mastering the process of 'I-making and my-making' involved with our conception of self, Marx's focus, the bodhisattva that he was, was primarily on how to liberate society from its suffering and alienation by changing the material conditions that support it.
But for me, it's not about turning Buddhism into some kind of revolutionary political philosophy; it's about applying the ideals of Buddhism in all that we do, which for me includes trying to help society overcome and advance beyond what Thorstein Veblen called 'the predatory phase' of human development. So for me, instead of canceling the full impact of reality and making me "indulgent, pleasure-seeking, distancing, and largely apathetic to worldwide suffering and misery," Buddhism has done the exact opposite, leading me to become more disciplined, involved, open, socially engaged, and sensitive to worldwide suffering and misery.
I think Thich Nhat Hanh sums up my own thoughts on the potential of the 'mindfulness revolution' when he says:
It has been said that the twenty-first century is going to be a century of spirituality. If it is not a century of spirituality, there will be very difficult times ahead for all of us and for the generations to come. If we are not able to stop and look more deeply at the suffering in ourselves, how will we be able to address the suffering in the world around us? In order for us to transform our own suffering, we must do something radical.
The first radical thing we can do to transform the suffering in ourselves is to practice stopping (shamatha). We stop in order to return to ourselves, to become calm. When we are calm, we have a better chance to see our suffering more clearly. The second radical act is to look deeply inside ourselves and see our suffering, be with our suffering, in order to understand and transform it. This is also true for the suffering in the world. We as entire nations need to stop and look deeply at the suffering in the world in order to see it more clearly without prejudice and understand how to transform it.
The practice of mindfulness in these troubled times is more important than ever. If we as individuals do not take the time to practice mindfulness, not only will it be difficult to transform the suffering in our own lives, but it will be difficult to transform the suffering in the world. It is vital to ourselves, our children, and the Earth that we have a practice that helps us to be mindful, that lets us come back to ourselves and dwell in the present moment in order to transform suffering in ourselves and others around us. (Foreword to No Beginning, No End)
Just as mindfulness can be used to pacify workers and help them cope with the day-today stresses of wage labour, I think it can also help workers become more aware of the socio-economic conditions they find themselves and give them the mental strength needed to deal with the day-to-day stresses of combating a socio-economic system characterized by consumerism and exploitation.
Your thoughts?
Comments
When it comes to pretty much anything that we're trying to improve, it's mostly picking your moments/shots - as I've mentioned here and there, I sign a LOT of on-line petitions about conservation, environment, abuse, all kinds of stuff. I figure it's the best I can do, and there has been a lot of feedback that a lot of the petitions worked. Booh-yah! (Like Shell no longer interested in drilling in Alaska, etc. after millions or even billions sunk into its research.
Maybe the most radical change is from sleeping zen, dopey socialism, customised capitalism, monk misogyny, Buddhist burning and other brain deaths into awakening.
Maybe we need to visit our hell realms, time to kiss and make up with our demons. Then to the heavens to kill our gods. Finally back to the mountain top as a kick off point for the real world.
... and now back to the radical ideas ...
I often skip long posts and long articles, because I get used to the short-attention-span format. But this was intriguing enough to reread several times.
I don't see causality in the correlation. At least not yet. Surely there are workplaces with abusive or "toxic" environments. Are they growing more plentiful, or just more visible? Let's say for conversation that they are growing more plentiful. That the mindfulness movement is growing does not justify invoking a causality. Certainly a sufficiently diabolical and unusually capable company could explore ways to subjugate the masses by using calming techniques to increase worker tolerance of high workload, thereby improving productivity. But having spent decades working for various very large companies, a few observations argue against this
I am no apologist for capitalist corporate culture as a force of good, nor do I deny that workplaces have personalities, some negative. But in my experience, negative environments exist as an unintended result of leaders' personalities, not as a result of a broad crafted plan to use psychological techniques to create tolerance for abuse. That is, I don't see a need to ascribe to malice that which can be explained by simple ineptitude. Most companies probably don't have the wherewithal to discern profit from a cultural movement, capability to craft and deploy a competent program to exploit the potential, or a board that would approve such an initiative. In my experience, HR would fumble such a directive anyway.
Inhospitable work environments and the growth of the mindfulness movement can coexist in our culture without a causal relationship, can't they?
Sure, and I'm not saying that one causes the other, rather that corporate America is utilizing the 'mindfulness revolution' to make workers more compliant and complacent. "Long hours and not enough pay, you say? It's not us, it's you. How about trying meditation to help you through the day." Just my take, anyway.
Of course, it's bullshit. It doesn't take long to figure it out after the presentation starts.
And yes...it comes from leaders/management that have no idea what they are talking about...but want to give the folks a pacifier to sooth and quiet the group up.
Talk is cheap. Lets talk about how you should be more mindful as an employee....but...hey...don't you worry about what we do at the top and how we do it.
It's no different with Civil Service. Capitalism and politics boil down to the same thing.
Power. That's me/self at its finest.
It is a push for numbers. Few bureaucracies, private or public, really care about 'mindfulness' or 'engagement'. What they do care about is the public or private entities version of profit. "Did we reach or exceed goal? ", "How can we look good?" There is often a terrible disconnect between those on the top and those on the bottom.It is the lack of communication, the lack of interaction that creates the disconnect. When those on top start looking and thinking in terms of numbers and expendables the bridge crumbles...
Still not awake yet...
Peace to all
I try to stay hopeful that even a handful of people will go farther with the mindfulness introduction at their jobs, even if their jobs are using it for the wrong reasons. They are all about increasing worker productivity. They always are. There is no exception. Google is always flaunted out there as an ideal company because of all the benefits and perks. But they do it to keep workers happy so they work harder and stay longer and thus increase the profits of Google. It's the same for all of them.
I guess, as a person who may not like the way the world is (work away all the best years of your life just to get by only to hope you have a few years left to enjoy your retirement) but I still have to find a way to live in it. Since that is our (my family's) reality right now, I'd rather have a job that does have all those perks so at least it's somewhat more pleasant and perhaps less stressful than working jobs that destroy your body via physical labor, high stress levels, and so on. I don't work, so I am lucky. I should go back now that my kids are all in school but I find myself resisting because it has taken many years to get to a point that I can identify more of who I am outside of my job and my life isn't just a daily grind of work, meals, kid care and sleep with maybe a smattering of a vacation once a year if we can afford it. I don't want that life. I am quite happy with all the time I have to "work on" myself. To run and do yoga and meditate whenever I want. To plan and cook meals that are fulfilling in multiple ways. To spend time with people I care about. I have a lot of time to just be and thinking about going back into the working work to be patronized with their idea of mindfulness is terrifying, honestly. Because I know what it is to live otherwise and I don't want to give it up.
'Splain yerself, Luc...I mean Lobster! Um, doesn't that guy look like Mr. Clean? Hmm.
I wonder if the people who practice this mindfulness also think it's bullshit? I'm guessing probably not because it actually does help them!
The idea that corporation are doing it just so they can "pull one over on their employees", sounds kinda "conspiracy theroyish", ha!
This is just the latest trend for companies to follow. But I wonder if the higher-ups realize what the training could actually mean for their employees. People engaging in mindfulness may actually start asking themselves why they're spending the majority of their waking hours participating in the crazy madhouse of modern society.
Bingo! Yeah, that would be awesome.
That guy is a Mr Clean monk who set himself alight - self immolation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Quảng_Đức
Great Caption for the picture: "Keep looking, that contact lens is around here somewhere."
It's actually a great picture.
That is a good quip. I was struck by the picture, too. It was to show deep appreciation for Mr. Clean monk's devotion, etc. devastating as it was.
I view the secular mindfulness' relation to Buddhism, like yoga today is to Hinduism. Mindfulness' origin is in Buddhism but divorced from all the other ethical and philosophical frameworks it really has little real relation to Buddhist practice IMO. Imagine what mindfulness practices will be like in a couple decades if it follows a similar route to yoga.
I think we Buddhists should just set secular mindfulness free and let it be its own thing so we can focus on developing Buddhism in the west so that those who do want to go deeper down the rabbit hole can find a healthy and full space to join.
It all sounds a bit George Orwell "1984", maybe there will be a Ministry of Mindfulness next door to the Ministry of Truth.
^^^ We haz plan!
Right Think.
Right Speech. (mis-speak for sanctioned liars still available)
Right Effort.
etc.
Do not-think. Ego bad.
We are Buddhists. Beat ignorance. Enter Nirvana.
Long live Big Brother aka Big Lama aka Big Monk.
We haz slogans ...
[wait ... think I got it wrong again ...]
Let me begin by saying that I could not read the entire article; my computer has difficulty with some pages and salon is one of them. I did want to comment though...
Isn't it possible that the same greed that is motivating the large corporations is present in the employees to a certain degree? Do we, as employees and potential employees share culpability? I think we do.
This job that my wife and I have is pretty laid back. That is not to say that there isn't some hard work, because there is, but we can take breaks more or less as we need them. There's a place a half mile to the east of where we live that has a similar position open and another just over a mile to the west in this county that has an unemployment rate of almost 20%.
We work from just before sun up, which these days is about six am - and work until sunset which is about six pm - five days a week. We work two hours a day on our days off - so we each work 64 hours a week with effectively zero complete days off. For that effort, we earn $250/week - or right at $1.95/hour. To be fair, we also get a place to sleep in the barn. And we're happy.
For much of my life I've earned over $100/hour. Six years ago my expenses were $7000/month. That lifestyle was a choice. So is this one...more or less. I mean, I got sick and couldn't work for three years but today I could get something else if I chose. I may have stated that I've got degrees before - if so, not true...but I didn't mean to mislead anyone with that info. I've completed the physics and mathematics requirements for Bachelors of Science degrees - I just have some humanities that I never bothered to complete...library sciences and the likes.
I speak five languages and I'm an American so it's almost unheard of. I'm a member of Mensa, a published author, etc. My point is that $1.95/hour is probably not my ceiling. But it is relatively stress free. Yes, I sometimes have difficulties dealing with people and the boss is a people...but that's me and that's going to be there no matter what I do for a living. Even if I'm working for myself, there's always customers and they are almost always other people...
So the poor kid who went in to epileptic shock after working 72 hours straight as an intern? Why did he do this to himself? Why didn't he say, "Screw this!" and apply for the job just to the east or west of us? I'm thinking it was probably because he wanted more than he needs. I mean, you're not working 100-120 hour weeks as an intern because the money is so good...you could make more money working minimum wage jobs in Seattle or another city paying $15/hour minimum wage. I'm betting that the reason that he and others like him are killing themselves working 100-120 hour weeks is for the dream of a six-figure salary made on the backs of a new batch of interns.
What if he said 'no'? What if we all said 'no'? The Baha'i came out with a bumper sticker years ago that said, "Live Simply so that others may Simply Live" What if we all signed up for that? Greed is greed whether it's practiced by corporate big shots or those who dream of becoming one.
Yagr, most jobs I've had I didn't enjoy. I did them as an investment, on the way to something else. All my jobs, I guess. The job I started a few months ago is the first one I've had that I have no other aspirations. Good feeling.
I have no question about corporations' intentions in this; the sole purpose of any publicly held company is to make a profit for the shareholders. More focused and productive workers are but a means to that end. Yet if this results in happier employees, I see the potential for benefit. I also hold out hope that at least some of those who are exposed to mindfulness practice will dig a little deeper, and find a genuine spiritual practice.
As certain folks like to keep reminding us, corporations can't be mindful '..caus they aint peoples'.
I sort of see the Mindfulness movement to be sort of the Prosperity Gospel of Buddhism. "Just have faith in Jesus and this church and you will be wealthy and successful!" = "Just have faith in this practice of Mindfulness, and be Mindful all the time, and you will have a great life and career!"
I'll join.
'Voluntary simplicity' is a choice across the political spectrum. A lot of good can come of 'mindfulness' and I feel it is a mature practice that leads to a potential depth of being and incidentally is the way most advanced practitioners keep their cushion practice going ...
Be mindful. Good plan!
'Be Mindful' - Dang! I knew there was a catch!
This. That's why I unfairly tend to mistrust marketing/sales/corporate law students... people who get into work for the big bucks, are super gung-ho about drinking the Kool-Aid, and thus haven't been in the field long enough to get jaded and realize they have been chasing ghosts.
A bit of an aside, but it's interesting that a Baha'i bumper sticker would say that when the Baha'i are beset with a fair number of not-letting-others-simply-live controversies of not-letting-others-simply live controversies.