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Mindfulness in the Context of Integrative Knowledge: Separating the Science from the Hype

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The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment

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Abstract

Mindfulness has gained increasing relevance as a field of academic interest and research, definitively intercepting organizational studies and practices near the beginning of the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, in spite of this “mindful” movement, society continues to witness a growing and conflictious triad of individualism, materialism, and isolationism, not surprisingly, dependent upon the triumvirate of rationality, scientific research, and technology to overcome all dysfunctional situations our society may be trapped in. The aim of this chapter is to reassess the spiritual foundations of Mindfulness and deepen its concepts and purposes within the context of an evolutionary integrative approach to knowledge, giving a more robust and profound direction to its insertion into today’s complex environment of accelerated changes in organizational management. After recontextualizing Mindfulness in the actual context of a predominant secularization, this work seeks to reconcile and strengthen the bond between the spiritual and rational dimensions of knowledge, while emphasizing the urgency to separate Science from the Hype and, conversely, bringing together these indispensable forces for humankind: Science and Spirituality. The chapter concludes by highlighting the bright and evolutionary path that may be opening ahead in the field of organizational management thus preventing two powerful vectors of knowledge, two age-old pillars of humanity history, from being lost amid the Hype temptation of naively simplifying or dismantling what took centuries to hardly build, stone by stone, in a slow though steadfast pace, so that a happier, healthier, and more just society will be a definitive and lasting parameter for human evolution.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Polytechnic School – Technological Entrepreneurship and Management Program, Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ, USA

    Andrea Cherman

  2. IAG Business School, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Andrea Cherman

  3. Sangha Mahamuni, Brazilian Soto Zen Society, Varzea do Lobo, Pirenopolis, GO, Brazil

    Francisco Eduardo Moreira Azeredo

Authors
  1. Andrea Cherman
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  2. Francisco Eduardo Moreira Azeredo
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Correspondence to Andrea Cherman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Woodbury University , North Hills, California, USA

    Satinder Dhiman

  2. Regent University , Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

    Gary Roberts

  3. University of South Australia , Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Joanna Crossman

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© 2018 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

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Cherman, A., Azeredo, F.E.M. (2018). Mindfulness in the Context of Integrative Knowledge: Separating the Science from the Hype. In: Dhiman, S., Roberts, G., Crossman, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61929-3_6-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61929-3_6-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-61929-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61929-3

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