The true meaning of mindfulness is an act of re-membering, not only in terms of recalling and being attentively present to our situation, but also of putting our lives back together, collectively.

Privatizing stress as a personal problem, and using science to affirm this agenda, mindfulness turns individuals on themselves. Not only does this blame the victims of cultural dysfunction, it drives a spiral of narcissistic self-absorption.

Social mindfulness is not an intervention conducted by experts. It makes no claim to sell “evidence-based” services. Its aims are regenerative, helping to repair solidarities and social bonds that neoliberalism devastates. It does not adopt the outlook of power, and refuses to collude with, or act on behalf of, institutional interests. Instead, it

Trickle-down mindfulness, like trickle-down economics, is a cover for the maintenance of power.

Now, instead of searching out sins, one hunts down negative thoughts.

So-called “Mindful Leaders” become anointed with pseudo-spiritual authority, acquiring the rhetoric of wisdom, compassion and empathy that helps secure complicity with corporate objectives. Mindful leadership depends on these narratives to cloak and humanize coercion, persuading managers to fulfill a noble mission of reducing suffering in the

Disimagination impels us to abandon creative ideas about new possibilities. Instead of seeking to dismantle capitalism, or rein in its excesses, we should accept its demands and use self-discipline to be more effective in the market.

A truly revolutionary mindfulness would challenge the Western sense of entitlement to happiness irrespective of ethical conduct.

One invests in mindfulness as one would invest in a stock hoping to receive a handsome dividend.