The Impossibility of Having a Mindful Day

I think having a “mindful day” is more important and more impossible than ever before. When I look at my daily routines, I spot a billion things that counteract against my will to be mindful. Before ranting about these, I will first provide a definition of mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a Buddhist concept/practice. In The Embodied Mind, Fransico Varela and co-authors define mindfulness as “…to experience what one’s mind is doing as it does it, to be present with one’s mind.” One definition I heard from someone was along the lines of “… a non-judgmental awareness of the immediate experience.” My definition is “Being present at the moment.”

Category: The Gnovis Blog

A Conversation with Former gnovis Contributor and CCT Student, Jeff Borenstein

In last Spring’s issue of gnovis, CCT student Jeff Borenstein contributed a paper on the role of cell phones and citizen journalism during the London bombings in 2005.  In “Camera Phone Images: How The London Bombings in 2005 Shaped the Form of News”, Jeff examines how social conditions, theory and technological climates intertwine to result in global phenomena.  This week, I sat down with Jeff to discuss his research, the state of the news media, his work with gnovis a

Category: The Gnovis Blog

Whistling Toward Dover: Eight Years Later and Measuring the Dover Test

Afghanistan is the graveyard of once mighty armies. The Mongols led by Genghis Khan invaded the region in the 13th century and continued fighting for control of the land for five centuries until overthrown in the 1700s. The Soviets came and went in a little less time, approximately eight years during which the communist empire collapsed. Then, there was the United States who eight years ago this week embarked on a conflict that today gets bloodier by the day.

President Barack Obama recently told congressional leaders there would be neither a surge (like in Iraq) nor a pullout (like in Vietnam). There have been 400 coalition deaths this year alone – more than the first five years of the conflict combined. The young administration, cognizant of the drag that can be caused by unending conflict, must be fearful of the all-to-recognizable Dover Test.

Category: The Gnovis Blog

Weekly Round-Up: Beefy Concerns

Bloggers from subject areas as diverse as cooking, law, business and sustainability are “broiling” today over a New York Times article that suggests ground beef is not as safe as it should be. The article, tracing both questionable industry practices and holes in federal oversight, is providing juicy fodder (no pun intended) for the blogosphere:

Category: The Gnovis Blog

Making some time to think

Loneliness, tenderness, high society, notoriety.
You fight for the throne and you travel alone
Unknown as you slowly sink
And there’s no time to think.
~ Bob Dylan

The lyrics above reflect Bob Dylan’s sentiments, after his Christian conversion, towards fame, youthful ambitions and rock and roll life style in the late 1970’s. For a folk singer-song writer the lyrics above reflect Bob Dylan’s sentiments, after his Christian conversion, towards fame, who analogized social conformity to being turned into a machine, the dramatic expression – that time is speeding up beyond our grasp – is totally fitting.

Category: The Gnovis Blog