In Sweden, mindfulness appears in three distinct settings: therapeutic, commercial, and religious. Its greatest expansion is within the healthcare system, where mindfulness-based therapies are used, and among private operators selling courses. In these secular contexts, mindfulness is decontextualized and presented as a universal life-skill without religious ties. The therapeutic use encourages metacognition and decentering, while the commercial use emphasizes sensory experiences. In religious contexts, sati (the Pali term for mindfulness) remains part of a Buddhist soteriological system aimed at freeing individuals from worldly bonds. This shift reflects a general Western trend where spirituality replaces religion.
This text offers principal considerations in response to Mikael Rothstein's article on Transcendental Meditation published in Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift issue 18. It critically engages with Rothstein's analysis, presenting alternative perspectives or critiques regarding the study of Transcendental Meditation within the academic field of religious studies. The discussion likely addresses methodological, theoretical, or interpretive issues raised by Rothstein's work, contributing to scholarly debate on the subject.
The Transcendental Meditation movement's meditation rituals function as a ritual drama in which participants reenact the cosmogonic act of creation. While ritual drama typically requires deep mythological knowledge, TM practitioners may not always possess it, though some advanced participants enact cosmogonies known to inner members through collective meditation and the TM-Sidhi programme, which involves levitation and other occult phenomena. Meditators aim to establish in their consciousness the same condition as the creator Brahma during creation, believing this enables literal creation and upholds or renews creation. The mystical experience of meditation is argued to be identical with the cosmogonic act, making the meditation-ritual a ritual drama. Further elaboration of the myth/ritual framework is needed.