Nobody can plant their tongue more firmly in their cheek than Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert. In a humorous interview with ABC News Correspondent Dan Harris about how a daily meditation practice relieved Harris’ stress and anxiety attacks, Colbert promoted the popular western perspective that sitting in silence is an endeavor undertaken by societal dropouts and people who have turned their backs on religion.
Of course, meditators and mindfulness practitioners (here's the difference) come from all religious faiths, secular viewpoints and levels of community involvement –- from U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) to rapper 50 Cent to little ol’ digital magazine creators.
The purpose of stillness is not to usurp a person’s religious faith, it’s simply to break one’s fidelity to, as Harris said, “your inner anchorman who is yammering at you all day long . . . judging, wanting, not wanting, casting yourself forward into an idealized future or remembering the past and not focusing on what’s happening right now.”
As we reported in the previous article, researchers have begun conducting studies which indicate what Harris experienced firsthand: we’re happier when our minds are in the present moment.
Thousands of mindfulness and meditation studies have been done over the past few decades – not all are considered scientifically valid (i.e., incorporating a
Doesn't [meditation] just kind of hollow you out and make you a shell of a person who just says om all the
time?
-- Stephen Colbert