Difference Between Mindfulness And Contemplation

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2. Mindfulness and Contemplation The Cambridge dictionary explains ‘mindfulness’ – “the practice of being aware of your body, mind, and feelings in the present moment, thought to create a feeling of calm: Mindfulness can be used to alleviate feelings of anxiety and depression.” This chapter takes a look at mindfulness and contemplation and how it can mean many things in many cultures, religions and faiths, and how it relates to photography. What is mindfulness is like asking ‘what is good?’. Grayling (2003) discusses this question by looking at a variety of other’s attempts of explanation. He states: “I have a point to argue, which is that mankind’s quest for the good has been a struggle between humanism, on the one hand, and religious conceptions of the world, on the other hand. The latter have proved resistant in the face of efforts by the former to free not just the imagination but the very life of man from the authority of religious world views, whether in the classical epoch, the Renaissance, or the eighteenth century and since. The durability of religious views might be variously explained, but one main historical reason is that most people are naturally superstitious …show more content…

A process for both the image maker and the viewer. The photographer and teacher George DeWolfe, a contemporary of Ansel Admas, (date unknown) says: “Contemplation is paying attention, right now, wherever you are. Contemplation notices things that cannot be accessed by language. It allows us to be calm and aware of our events and surroundings. Contemplation is neither frivolous nor spiritual. It is human. It is a skill. It is a choice. Thomas Merton called it, “…the direct intuition of reality…a direct grasp of the unity of the visible and the invisible…a plain fact, a pure experience, the very foundation of our being and

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