"World On Fire"

It is delightful to find a meditation teacher dealing with worldly concerns like global warming, economic distress, and political disenfranchisement. Otherwise, people may believe they'll have to choose between meditation practice and civic engagement. After all, who has time to meditate while the world is burning?

Physician Jon Kabat-Zinn elegantly solves that dilemma in his new book, Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness. Kabat-Zinn offers a bridge between the rising distress of our world, and the urgency many people feel about their personal meditation practice. He writes: "I don't know about you, but for myself, it feels like we are at a critical juncture of life on this planet. It could go any number of ways. How we manage to see ourselves and the world at this juncture will make a huge difference in the way things unfold."

Noting considerable and growing engagement in mindfulness practices worldwide, Kabat-Zinn writes, "Every little bit counts, often in ways we cannot completely know." His ultimate hope is expressed this way: "This time we are in provides singular opportunities to embody in our lives our deepest values and wisdom, trusting that such embodied actions will entrain the world over time into greater wisdom, health and sanity."

The book instructs, inspires and informs. Practiced meditators will appreciate the link to global healing, and social activists may find reassurance and peace through the mindfulness practices he teaches.

Books Available from Amazon

Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness, by Jon Kabat-Zinn ($17). Written by the medical doctor who popularized stress reduction meditation techniques, this book is a prescription for reducing the worldly stress that threatens everyone, from global warming to war.

Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness, by Jon Kabat-Zinn ($19) This book is also a terrific introduction for anyone who has considered meditating but was afraid it would be too difficult or would include religious practices they found foreign.

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, by Jon Kabat-Zinn ($11). This book blends stories, anecdotes, poems, images, and scientific observations with easily followed meditation instructions.

Links

The Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (CFM), founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn, has information about him, his teaching schedule, and his meditation techniques. www.umassmed.edu/cfm