Globalization , Mindfulness and Community

Abstract

This paper will focus on how we might use mindfulness to create a more just and environmentally sustainable global system. The current neoliberal economic model of globalization is based on a conception of human behavior as self-interested individualism. It assumes, despite striking evidence to the contrary, that what is good at the individual level leads to an optimal societal outcome. The recent global downturn and the growing income disparities both within and among nations indicate that this approach has failed to bring prosperity and harmony to the global community, while, at the same time, threatening the natural environment. Heterodox economist critics of the neoliberal model, including Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, John Grey, and Ha Joon Chang, have criticized the current system as
hurting the poor and have offered recommendations on how to reform the global system.