Mindfulness in Good Lives

Mindfulness is celebrated everywhere—especially in health psychology and spiritual practices, but also in the arts, business, education, environmentalism, sports, and the use of digital devices. While the current mindfulness movement may be in part the latest fad in a narcissistic and therapeutic culture, it is also worthy of greater philosophical attention. As a study in ethics and moral psychology, Mindfulness in Good Lives remedies the neglect of this subject within philosophy. Mike W. Martin makes sense of the striking variety of concepts of mindfulness by connecting them to the core idea of value-based mindfulness: paying attention to what matters, in light of relevant values. When the values are sound, mindfulness is a virtue that helps implement the kaleidoscope of values in good lives. Health psychologists, who currently dominate the study of mindfulness, often present their research as value-neutral science. Yet they invariably presuppose moral values that should be made transparent. These values, which lie at the interface of morality and mental health, form bridges between philosophy and psychology, and between literature and spirituality.

Martin (emer., Chapman Univ.) intends Mindfulness in Good Lives to uncover the values at the base of mindfulness, and he provides a serious philosophical examination of the concept. Popular approaches link mindfulness with Asian spiritual practices, and therapeutic psychologists sometimes embrace mindfulness as a magic cure for all of life’s problems. By contrast, Martin takes the idea of mindfulness seriously and thinks of it in relatively simple terms: he writes in chapter 1 that mindfulness “highlights the importance of paying attention to what matters, in light of values.” He also claims that the values connected with mindfulness are often somewhat "hidden" by psychologists and others who claim to use only value-neutral science. Martin wants to make the underlying values explicit. He explains that his "overarching aim [in the book] is to understand mindfulness as a virtue in good lives—as an excellence that helps implement sound values.” This is quite different from much of the therapeutic psychological literature, in which being “mindful” sometimes seems to mean little more than being nonjudgmental. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers., Mindfulness in Good Lives is a needed examination of the relationship between mindfulness and morality. Martin makes a case for understanding mindfulness as a virtue in itself, and therefore a valuable prerequisite for living potential good lives., Martin offers a robust analysis of mindfulness as itself a cardinal virtue undergirding a good life, which connects with other virtues such as calm and control, intelligent and creative problem solving, rational valuing, beauty, peace, compassion, professional responsibility, and positivity, among other values. Indeed, which values are emphasized depends on the activity and context, thereby introducing diverse flavors of mindfulness. Mental health practitioners and laypersons alike interested in the contributions of mindfulness to living a good life will therefore do well to read this extraordinarily insightful book, destined to become a classic.

Mike W. Martin is professor emeritus of philosophy at Chapman University.