And thus we met together in a space of mindfulness addressing the discourse of death, encircling reflections of culture’s influence on the multitude of ways in which we respond to non-normative bodies. The term mindfulness is the word of choice used in the presentation of the guidelines outlined for the Death Cafe, hosted by “The ARTivism Lab” Speakers Series of 2018. Conscious or not, the use of this word resonates significantly with the unraveling of tip-toed topics, further uncovering a major flaw in the loudly presented political media.
As the term mindfulness is a noun, it describes an element of identification of people(s), place(s), or thing(s). This quality not only presents the nature and intellectual ambience that the Death Cafe successfully instilled, but also highlights a lack thereof within our collective. This lack can be seen as the two major themes that were prevalent both throughout the presentation as well as entwined within the discussions held in smaller groups.
This method of immersion allows for an intimacy to exist surrounding topics of normally avoided discussion(s), within individuals as a reflection on or acceptance of emotion, and between individuals to create understanding and consideration. These ways that intimacy is capable of existing is lost in the many media our society chooses to communicate through over any actual interaction. Thus allowing for individuals or groups of power to manipulate the collective discussions, reflections, emotions, and understandings of the world, or in short to manipulate the state of and the way we are/not being mindful.
Hypocrisy is a quality one would wish not to portray, as it is merely an envelope covertly handling uncovering of cyclic awareness to flaw that can be traced quite far back in time or thought; complexity and ultimacy. In turn we fixate, establishing a flourishing of different communities that are each collectively striving to challenge normative notions, media, and values. Within this fixation, like any imbalance, there are tendencies to lose sight of our mindfulness to that which is similar to the existence of mindfulness concerning individuals living with disability. The lack of considering, or the way in which we consider disability within our society is flawed. As discussed in Strange beauty, disability becomes desirable yet at the same time those living with disability are seen as a life of less value. Contradiction can be a game of trickery in that the manipulations from within structures of power can be hard to source, which leads up to the relative current in that without full understanding and mindfulness both ways we are merely left with a tolerance.
The latter definition of mindfulness successfully coincides with the Death Cafe’s send off message. It considers the term to be a mental state that can be attained through living in the present which entails aspects such as “calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations…”. This sense of spirit, mind, physicality, and emotions are all essential to a human being having life and facing death. As well, this sheds light on being mindful of context, particularly the fact of the present, the reflection of the past, and acknowledgement of the future – only the present moment is definite; relating to dealing with concepts of death and a mindfulness to consider when approaching differences. The final notes encouraged a mindfulness to be carried onwards of our individual living actualities; our worth, our honesty, and our ability to express emotions regarding any topic.
And then we parted the communal safe space into a singular head space that felt a little less lonely, despite the TTC gray and lingering thoughts of disability and death.
