The practice of heartfelt-mindfulness (sati) is meant to awaken the 6th sense, the Buddha's discovery under the Bo-tree. The 'mind's eye' is a metaphor that refers to the brain as an organ capable to introspect and integrate impinging stimuli entering through the sense doors. It 'sees' the behaviours-of-the-mind-and-the-body: impermanent phenomena also known as 'dhammas' flowing in the stream of consciousness. While cognitive therapy is eager to change the content of mind, sati only observes the mind that is experienced as a flux. The focus is on prereflective 'pure' perceiving before any subject-object dualism takes hold. This might accrue a daily functioning of 'going with the flow while nothing remains undone'. Outcome studies suggest the efficacy of nondual experience by awareness or mindfulness not as a treatment of choice for clinical pathology, but as a useful adjunct or component in a treatment package, (relapse) prevention and pre-therapy. Strong(er) evidence-based results are highly probable in non-clinical samples in areas of high performance like managerial functioning or sports' achievement. The question: are mindfulness-based interventions the latest fad and a passing fancy?
(To address this and other themes of mutual interest, a historical meeting of minds between the founder of Cognitive therapy Prof A.T. Beck and Dr. Tenzin Gyatso [14th Dalai Lama] will be held in Sweden next June. A full program is available at www.congrex.se/ICCP2005 [program at a glance]).