Month:April 2015

The computer bag on the Buddha’s lap: How the mindfulness debate misses its point

A few day ago, I had dinner with friends at an Indian restaurant in Hamburg. In the center of the restaurant looms a larger-than-life Buddha statue[1]. A little into our meal, one of my friends pointed out that somebody from the party sitting right next to the statue had deposited their computer bag on the Buddha’s lap. We all turned our heads, smiled, and frowned. We had a brief exchange about the reactions that might be seen in a Bavarian Biergarten in case a visitor from Asia would hang their camera onto the crucifix on the wall.

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It is okay if you don’t want to be a leader.

A few years ago, “every one of us a leader” was the motto of the annual Values Day at McKinsey[1]. Of course, the concept behind this phrase raises some practical questions of internal organisation (which might be the reason why it was only chosen for a day)[2]. More importantly, however, these days, the idea expressed here seems to be omnipresent in books, articles, blogs, and titbits of advice on social media platforms that deal with questions of organisational or personal development aka “Leadership”.

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Easter Everywhere: The Daily Business of Resurrection

“For traditional Buddhists, resurrection is daily business. Monday, kind of.”. This is a Good Friday Tweet posted by Morbus Laetitia this morning[1]. What a lovely thought, I thought. And then: What if, indeed, Easter was not a once-a-year excuse for taking a few days off, while the feast itself (at least in Western Europe) has somehow lost most of its religious inheritance and spiritual appeal, in exchange for being devoured by chocolate bunnies and candy eggs? What if we made Easter our daily business, regardless of our religious (or philosophical) inclination?

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