This UK-based initiative is living out elements of A Golden Civilization, by educating political parties, groups, politicians, and the public on the benefits of mindfulness to those in leadership roles. This apolitical approach to bettering politics is just the kind of action step needed to help advance civilization in the Integrities of Leadership and Democracy.
The Mindfulness Initiative
The Mindfulness Initiative’s mission is “to work with legislators around the world who practice mindfulness and help them to make capacities of heart and mind serious considerations of public policy. We investigate the benefits, limitations, opportunities and challenges in accessing or implementing mindfulness training and, based on these findings, educate leaders, service-commissioners and the general public.”
In early 2014, The Mindfulness Initiative supported parliamentarians to set up a Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG). Demonstrating its appeal to cross-party groups, MAPPG’s co-chairs are from the three main political parties, Chris Ruane (Labour), Tracey Crouch (Conservative) and Lorely Burt (Liberal Democrat).
One of the Mindfulness Initiative’s projects was to conduct a 12-month inquiry into how mindfulness could be incorporated into UK services and institutions. They collaborated with the MAPPG. Findings were published in the Mindful Nation UK report.
From the project’s website, Key policy implications addressed in the report are listed below:
Education
Can mindfulness in schools influence classroom behaviour, attention and focus, help raise educational standards, and develop young people’s tools for well-being?Healthcare
Can mindfulness reduce the incidence of mental health problems such as depression, as well as help tackle long-term health conditions and improve public health?
Work
Can mindfulness be a way to reduce stress and anxiety – and develop resilience, emotional intelligence and creativity - in the workplace?
Criminal Justice
Can mindfulness be a way to tackle depression, anxiety, stress in the criminal justice system?
Teaching standards
There is currently no formal accreditation process for mindfulness teachers. As interest in training grows, how can people be pointed towards good mindfulness teachers? (Since the report publication a listing of teachers meeting Good Practice Guidelines has been created here)
Leaders as Masters of the Present Moment
In a Golden Civilization, leaders are active mediation and mindfulness practitioners. In fact, all citizens of democracy have moved away from their current understanding of space and time and instead are using mediation to find moments of freedom. Thus, in a Golden Civilization, leaders can be found everywhere.
In the following excerpt from A Golden Civilization and the Map of Mindfulness, we are invited to see the progression from moments of stress, where we crave solitude, to present moments of freedom and selflessness through mindfulness and meditation practices.
Often we seek solitude to achieve transparency within ourselves and to develop wisdom. It is solitude that we can observe ourselves and most clearly, when stressed, we seek it. . . The most direct route to solitude is to find it inside of ourselves. In the power of the present moment, we can access solitude and find great rest whenever we are in need. Solitude opens us up, deepens self-knowledge, builds authenticity, and strengthens sincerity. It provides space for present moments and freedom.
…If you want to be at peace, master the present moment and how it changes. Master through mindfulness how selflessness arises, This is the most powerful skill a leader can learn, regardless of field, profession, or domain. p. 253
It is with this ease that leaders, who now have a perspective of the universe as understood by an understanding of the present moment, can distribute that learning, perspective, and virtue to civilization.
Deep Listening as a Cornerstone of Democracy
In a similar way, because all citizens of a A Golden Civilization are focused on achieving moments of freedom, we hold our institutions of democracy to a higher standard of integrity and virtue.
The excerpt below illustrates this intrinsic relationship between mindfulness, our self-knowledge, and true democratic institutions:
“The government of a great democracy acts with wisdom, constantly breaking through institutional rigidity. It is possible only if we break through our own rigidities, open our hearts, and learn to listen.
The greater our capacity to listen, the more vast the reaches of civilization.
That should be obvious in regard to our openness to cultures that are different from our own, but it is also true deep within ourselves, where listening is learned. When we are quiet in meditation, we naturally bring kindness and comfort to our sensations, which are also the sensations of life itself and all of its creatures. The more we know ourselves in this way, the more we experience our kinship with life and the world around us and the more present we become for democracy.” p. 105
The Mindfulness Initiative is supporting over 45 countries bringing mindfulness training and policy initiatives to governments, some of which include, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Sri Lanka.