The tendency among mindfulness practitioners to revere masters goes hand-in-hand with appeals to authority and status that are commonplace among boosters within the movement. Check out, for instance, Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. It’s not enough for Kabat-Zinn to describe someone as a psychologist - he must be “renowned” (4747), or an economist – he must be a “highly respected” (9275), or a journal – it must be a “one of the most prestigious and high-impact scientific journals in the world” (346). The overall impression is that of an attempt to undermine readers’ attempts to think for themselves – appealing to the (apparent) reputation of individuals and not to the persuasiveness of what they say. Such subversion of independent thinking is apparent at the very beginning of the book, with page after page of hyperbolic endorsements by “physicians, psychologists, scientists, meditation teachers, educators and leaders”. How can one’s critical faculty survive such an onslaught?
Reference:
Jon Kabat-Zinn (2013) Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness, Kindle Version, Revised Edition; Bantam Books, New York. (Kindle pages referenced)