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Ernest Larkin Christian Mindfulness Summary

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Ernest E. Larkin uses his article “Christian Mindfulness” to show how mindfulness, when used correctly, is able to address spiritual hunger and will lead Christians to become intimate with God. However, I have found that many Christians today reject the idea of mindfulness because of its development in Buddhism. Buddhist will teach mindfulness in a way that eternal enlightenment can be found through self-awareness alone and not through God. While I agree that Christians should stay away from the type of mindfulness practiced in eastern cultures, I fully support Ernest E. Larkin’s idea of tweaking mindfulness so that one can become closer to God and the Holy Spirit. The difference between Buddhist mindfulness and Larkin’s idea of Christian mindfulness is the Buddhist teaching is all about what I’m doing to bring myself to peace and enlightenment, where the Christian …show more content…

I find that to understand what full mindfulness is the term mindlessness needs to be unpacked more than Larkins description. While Larkins idea of failing to think is correct I find that is far more common in today’s busy world that our brains are racing with new ideas continuously. Often times while attempting to pray or to listen to a sermon rather than devoting full attention to the present moment we are thinking of events to come in the future and how we will manage them. An example of this is while having a daily quite time, which Larkin suggest to have twice a day for twenty minutes, we often let are minds roam to upcoming events such as a chore that needs to be accomplished. While allowing your mind to roam to coming events we lose our focus on God and begin to focus on ourselves. It’s imperative to realize that the busy mind can be just as detrimental to Christian mindfulness as an empty mind because neither option devotes our full self to becoming one with

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