Contemplative Democracy

Contemplative practices like meditation, mindfulness, and yoga are becoming common in the United States. This book argues that these practices, often seen as personal retreat, actually hold democratic political value. By connecting political theory with qualitative interviews and observation, the author shows how such practices create new ways of imagining politics, forming selves, and building community. At a time when democracy seems to decline and contemplative practices rise, the book suggests that the attentional ecologies cultivated by the Mindfulness Revolution may address democratic deficits. It highlights resonances between theorists of democracy and ordinary practitioners, focusing on education and inclusive pedagogy.

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Abstract

Abstract Contemplative practices are increasingly mainstream in the United States. From meditation, mindfulness, and yoga to writing, walking, and gardening, contemplative practices aim to cultivate embodied awareness, attunement, and attention. What is the political value of the attentional ecologies created by the Mindfulness Revolution? This book explores the democratic possibility contained within contemplative practices that may initially seem to be about retreat and withdrawal. Bringing disparate fields into dialogue, it highlights resonances between how theorists talk about meaningful democracy and how ordinary people talk about contemplative practice. Exploring these connections seems especially important at a time when we fear democracy is in decline, but we know contemplative practices are on the rise. How might deficits in one area be addressed by growth in the other? Analyzing theorists like Jacques Rancière and Gloria Anzaldúa alongside qualitative interviews, participant-observation, and a case study, this book puts political theory—a discipline shaped by the Enlightenment—into dialogue with meditative practices questing after other forms of enlightenment. Reimagining the work of political theory, employing feminist approaches, and with a focus on educational spaces and democratic modes of pedagogy, Contemplative Democracy is crafted from the ground up, in a vernacular register that is inclusive, accessible, and embodied. The book reads contemplative practices as spaces where ordinary people do the work of democracy, creating new political imaginaries, finding new selves, and founding new states of being. Contemplative Democracy reveals how the larger body politic may be reshaped by the work people do in their own bodies every day.