Mind/No-Mind
K.M. Fierke
Snapshots from Home January 25, 2022 DOI: 10.1332/policypress/9781529222616.003.0004 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that 'no mind' is a formless state that can nonetheless express intention and action, and that this action, embedded in a nonviolent classificatory scheme, can be used by warrior cultures without being a mere contradiction. The chapter also examines the paradox of applying no-mind techniques to heal US soldiers with PTSD from Iraq and Afghanistan. |
Abstract
This chapter moves to an exploration of the relationship between emptiness and ‘no mind’. Mindfulness is usually associated with some form of meditation. The latter is also central to Eastern traditions of fighting. The chapter connects self to mind and action while also revealing how something formless, that is, no-mind, can express intention and action, and how this action, embedded in a classificatory scheme that celebrates nonviolence, could be put to service by a warrior culture such that it is more than contradiction. The chapter first investigates the debate surrounding agentless agency and its relationship to more familiar concepts of free will and determinism. It then shifts to an elaboration of the relationship between consciousness and sentience. It sets the stage for the cultural production, and studies the working of no-mind within it. Finally, the chapter moves to an investigation of the ethical justification for an intention to do harm. It returns to the present, to review a further paradox that arises from the use of techniques related to no-mind in the healing of US soldiers who suffered from PTSD as a result of their experiences of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.