In a previous article, I touched on the concept of “raw mindfulness” in order to make a point regarding how hard it is to capture reality for what it is and the mindful efforts required to cut through the fog and see things for what they are; see ourselves for what we are. Quite a lot is involved in achieving a certain level of lucidity, especially in this day and age in which misinformation, stigmas, judgments and trends underpin how we see the world and define ourselves. To do so, I find useful to leverage a classic mindfulness approach with an added reality check. If mindfulness is to improve our presence to what is, then we could say that raw mindfulness is to push ourselves to capture the true story of that reality.
Being lucid with a suspended judgment is quite hard to achieve and requires a mindful effort over and over again. Achieving this non-judgmental state of lucidity is a little bit like peeling an onion. Layers after layers we may discover that there are more layers to be peeled both in order to get to know the world for what it is and also to get to know ourselves without the many different lenses that we use or that society pushes on us. In the end, we discover a reality that tends to be more on the raw side (whether we like it or not); a reality that tells a story that sometimes is illuminating and yet that can also be very challenging. Wishing to put in the work and cut through the noise with courage in order to achieve a stance closer to an unbiasedtruth is what I refer to as raw mindfulness.
I thought it relevant to explain a little bit more this concept of raw mindfulness as it underpins my approach: this ishow I try to see and understand the world. Perhaps such an approach runs the risk of sometimes being seen as too straightforward or even blunt when efforts are made to cut through the fog in our lives, but it is not about reinforcing judgment – quite the contrary. It is about coming to terms with what is without all the noise and biases of our modern times in order to better inform how we shape that world; how we shape our world. In a sense, it is an effort to overcome anything and everything in life that may fool us into believing something that may not be exactly that in reality. Let me give you an example…
During the first few days of the pandemic, the entire world shut down and we all got that “end-of-the-world” feeling to a certain extent. As a result, people rushed… to buy toilet paper! Why? Because people thought that there would be a real shortage even though mainstream media would report the contrary. The crisis was exacerbated by the herd instinct of doing what the others were doing: buying large quantities of toilet paper. In that context, imagine yourself standing in front of someone waiting in line to buya cart full of toilet paper and your wish is to convince that person that there is no need for that much toilet paper. You would be faced with a significant challenge to overcome all the biases at play (e.g. you don’t know what’s going on, you want to have the toilet paper for yourself, and so on).
A biased reality, fueled by misinformation through (social) media, personal beliefs, emotions and the many other forces at play stand in the way. It is the undoing of those forces in order to achieve an unbiased truth, for ourselves and others, that I refer to as “raw mindfulness”. The skills and efforts required to push ourselves to test that reality from a cognitive standpoint and capture what it has to offer in terms of truths are significant. And even if, in the end, we feel we have succeeded, how do we know for sure that we have reached a reliable truth? Interesting question, isn’t it? But this is a different story and a good one for another article…
In the meantime, may you be well, may you be happy.
B.