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Wu Wei in Mindfulness: A Systematic Perspective.

Shuangshuang Xu

Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science July 24, 2024 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-024-09840-0 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Topics Meditation
Keywords Humans Psychology, social Psychological theory Spontaneity Wu wei Daosim I/me
Key points Argues that understanding how mindfulness works requires resuming theoretical and historical conceptualization rather than a positivistic, instrumental approach. Drawing on von Fircks's (2023) integration of Daoist wu wei into Meadian social psychology, the author distinguishes two focuses of meaning in wu wei (not forcing/interfering and a spontaneously evolving system) and two positions a person can take (stepping back and not interfering, or actively connecting and cultivating new relations), yielding two accounts of the altered "I" emerging from mindfulness.

Abstract

Resuming the theoretical and historical conceptualization of mindfulness research is of utmost importance if we want to transcend the positivistic and instrumental trend in the present field and to understand better what mindfulness is and how mindfulness works. Based on von Fircks (2023)'s introduction of Daosim's wu wei into Meadian Social Psychology, this commentary continues dialoguing the two different traditions for understanding mindfulness's functioning by exploring the systematic principle underlying wu wei. From the systematic perspective, we can distinguish: 1) two focus of meaning in wu wei: (a) not forcing/interfering and (b) the existence of a spontaneously evolving system; 2) two positions a person can take faced with the spontaneous system: (a) as stepping back and not interfering; (b) as actively connecting and cultivating new relations into systems. Based on the two positions, the dynamic emergence of altered I from mindfulness is also approached in two different ways.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. 2004 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Mechanisms of mindfulness 2005 Theoretical or philosophical paper
How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective 2011 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression 2006 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness 2012 Theoretical or philosophical paper

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