William Van Gordon, PhD, is a Chartered Psychologist who lectures and conducts research in psychology at the University of Derby in the United Kingdom. He sits on the editorial board for various academic journals including Mindfulness and Mindfulness and Compassion.
He is also co-editor of two academic anthologies: Mindfulness and Buddhist-derived Approaches in Mental Health and Addiction, and The Buddhist Foundations of Mindfulness. William has over 100 academic publications relating to the scientific study of meditation. Prior to joining academia, William was a Buddhist monk for ten years.
Here he suggests that, while biological pathogens are well-known and understood, little attention has been given to the possibility of psychological pathogenic agents. Nevertheless, some conditions — such as obesity — that are not considered communicable have been increasing globally at an alarming rate. Van Gordon postulates that inverse hallucinations, i.e., mindlessness (the opposite of mindfulness) are the source of many public health problems, as well as other social problems.
(Recorded on October 9, 2019)
To order Buddhist Foundations of Mindfulness, edited by William Van Gordon, click here: https://amzn.to/2sbwyMc
Published on October 14, 2019