Does meditation make you smug?

As a study suggests the fashionable wellness trend is one big ego trip...

Well, here’s a thing. Research done in the Netherlands has revealed that mindfulness makes you conceited.

The study, published in the european Journal of Social Psychology, found that people who take part in meditation and other forms of training meant to place them in touch with the universe, and make them less judgmental, actually felt ‘spiritually superior’ to others.

Practitioners of mindfulness rated their spiritual worth about 50 per cent higher than ordinary mortals when asked if they agreed with phrases such as: ‘The world would be a better place if others too had the insights that I have now.’ They were also likely to agree that: ‘ Because of my education and experience, I am observant and see things that others overlook.’

I can’t think of any study that surprised me less. I once wrote about mindfulness, and in the course of my research attended half a dozen mindfulness sessions.

Some of it was blameless to the point of stating the obvious, such as the emphasis on concentrating on whatever we are doing at the moment — or, as my mother used to say, minding what you’re at.

But the bigger agenda, to encourage the kind of meditation that turns us inwards, is pretty well a recipe for spiritual narcissism.

Mindfulness is often described as a secular form of Buddhist meditation … ironically, one thing that Buddhist practice is keen to discourage is spiritual pride.

There was a further aspect to the sessions. You weren’t just told to focus on your interesting self. No, you were also encouraged to direct benevolent thoughts to complete strangers, perhaps someone travelling on the same bus, or sitting near you in a library.

It sounds like harmless philanthropy, and perhaps it is. But what it does is put you in the position of being the enlightened practitioner, directing uplifting thoughts towards the spiritually unwashed.

It’s essentially the reverse of the virtue that’s most valued in Christianity — that is, humility. And it doesn’t involve any actual engagement with the other person.

Of course, research findings aren’t always straightforward. It may be that meditation, mindfulness and getting to grips with your chakras aren’t themselves the problem. Rather, it may be that the kind of people who engage in these practices are puffed up with their own spiritual worth to begin with.

If you’re morally vain, you may find introspection and meditation — the epitome of individualism — far more attractive than involving yourself with other people, in all their messiness and unpredictability.

Personally, I think some kinds of meditation can be profoundly worthwhile, but I’m less impressed by the sort that’s dressed up as New Age mysticism. It’s a way for irritating people to make themselves look deep.

Mindfulness is a recipe for spiritual narcissism