On Mindfulness and Aspiration.

I read recently that young people in high schools are being given lessons in mindfulness. As I understand the term, mindfulness is all about living in the moment and avoiding the temptation to dwell on the past or anticipate the future. This I don’t understand because it seems to me to be at odds with the modern imperative in education which is all about aspiration.

You see, when I was in high school things were different. Aspiration was certainly not forbidden, nor even – by and large – discouraged, but the emphasis was more about taking a relatively simple route which would ensure a reasonably comfortable level of subsistence, and then being content with your lot. And that’s how life was for the majority of people.

But now the emphasis is very much about aspiration. It’s about the imperative to work hard to get good grades. And then moving on to the next level where more hard work will be required, and so on and so forth until you reach the tertiary level where you must aim to get the best degree or degrees you can manage. Only then, say the pundits, will you be able to achieve your maximum potential in life. I’ve heard that young people are even encouraged to make ‘life plans’ at an early age.

(Life plans? In your teens? I was thirty-two before I realised what I wanted to be doing in life, and I got there by the simple expedient of self-instruction and dedication. The fact that it ultimately failed, incidentally, wasn’t my fault. It was Mrs Thatcher’s. But I digress…)

I do realise that I’m generalising to some extent here; I do realise that some people have a good idea of where they want to go when they’re not far beyond the breast milk stage. But I doubt that most do, and I still think there’s a question to be asked: If you’re going to coerce young people into planning for the future from an early age, what point is there in teaching them mindfulness?

(Do you know what? I’m almost glad that my dear old friend Maddie isn’t still reading this blog. If she were, no doubt she would regale me with an invective-laden diatribe on why the two processes are not, or at least might not, be irreconcilable, because she was the cleverest, most rational person I have ever known. And she has more degrees than I have hair follicles. But I still think I have a point.)