Introduction

I am rather ignorant when it comes to Buddha’s philosophy and practice and I am no expert either on the works of the great Puritan John Owen. Nonetheless, I thought it would be a worthwhile effort to put two products of these men side by side. The two both promote meditation as a means and promise peace as a result. However, the two practices that they describe, despite the seeming resemblance in names, are vastly different. Owen has written a work with the title The grace and duty of being spiritually minded (Owen, 1681/1813). I would like to compare his practice of being spiritually minded with another practice, namely that of mindfulness, which is otherwise known as the heart of Buddhist meditation (Kabat-Zinn, p. 4). The book I have chosen is titled Wherever you go, there you are (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). It is authored by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is active in teaching and promoting mindfulness and discussing how it might be effectively integrated into mainstream psychotherapy. It might seem that I a am comparing apples and oranges, but I have a sense that from this comparison we can learn something crucial for our practice of Christian psychology.

The Virtuous Life as the Christian's Reasonable Service

About a decade ago, a new psychological movement entered the scene: Positive Psychology. Positive psychology seeks to help people in the pursuit of authentic happiness. Rather than seeking to correct weaknesses and problems, Positive Psychology aims at understanding positive emotion, building strength, and providing guideposts for the good life in order for individuals to realize their potential for lasting fulfillment (Seligman, 2002). This approach focuses on character strengths, otherwise called virtues. Thinking about virtues, however, is not new. Countless philosophers throughout history have reflected on virtues, Aristotle being one of the more well-known in this area.