The Mindful Cranks

14
Buddhism #95

Shortly after my Huffington Post essay “Beyond McMindfulness” went viral, a popular mindfulness promoter accused me of being a “crank”. So why not own it? Alas, The Mindful Cranks was born. The Mindful Cranks was the first podcast to critique the mindfulness movement. Conversations with guests soon expanded in scope to include critical perspectives on the wellness, happiness, resilience and positive psychology industries - sharing a common concern that such highly individualistic and market-friendly techniques ignore the larger structural and systemic problems plaguing society. Whether these be trendy Asian spiritualities such as mindfulness or yoga, or other interventions from therapeutic cultures, The Mindful Cranks will call them out without mercy. I am very fortunate to engage with my favorite journalists, authors and public intellectuals whose works that I admire, as well as educators and spiritual teachers who I have learned from — fellow cranks who don’t simply accept the way things are. They’re modern muckrakers who dare to question the unquestionable. But being cranky can be critically wise and compassionate. Casting a wide net around the impending meta-crisis, The Mindful Cranks also explores with leading thinkers how the problems of our times are deeply entangled with our ways of knowing and being. Rather than just retreating from such problems by sitting on cushion, doing yoga or listening to a meditation app, I believe using our minds is not necessarily a bad thing if it challenges the limits of human knowledge.

Recent Episodes
  • Episode 49 - Tara Isabella Burton- Self-Made
    Jul 20, 2023 – 50:24
  • Episode 48 - Derek Beres - Conspirituality
    Jul 14, 2023 – 01:09:06
  • Episode 47 - Peter Hershock: Buddhism & AI
    May 28, 2023 – 01:13:13
  • Episode 46 - Martin Parker: Shut Down the Business School
    Apr 14, 2023 – 01:11:52
  • Episode 45 - Alissa Quart: Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream
    Mar 13, 2023 – 50:25
  • Curtis White - Transcendent: Art and Dharma in a Time of Collapse
    Mar 2, 2023 – 01:06:04
  • Episode 43 - Steve Hagen: The Grand Delusion
    Feb 22, 2023 – 01:08:07
  • Episode 42- Graham Parkes: How to Think About the Climate Crisis
    Feb 11, 2023 – 01:26:34
  • Episode 41 - Rina Raphael: The Gospel of Wellness
    Nov 26, 2022 – 58:13
  • Episode 40 - Gail Stearns: Liberating Mindfulness
    Oct 8, 2022 – 53:10
  • Episode 39 - Pierce Salguero: Buddhish
    Jul 20, 2022 – 42:30
  • Episode 38 - Johann Hari - Stolen Focus
    May 15, 2022 – 01:15:37
  • Episode 1: The Mindful Cranks Trailer
    Nov 12, 2021 – 04:05
  • Episode 37 - Kathleen Gregory: Mindfulness as Psychological Redemption
    Oct 6, 2021 – 01:01:04
  • Episode 36 - Richard Payne: Secularizing Buddhism
    Aug 30, 2021 – 01:23:39
  • Episode 35 - Sarah Shaw: The Varieties of Mindfulness
    Jul 7, 2021 – 57:39
  • Episode 34 - Gregory Kramer: A Whole-Life Path
    Apr 3, 2021 – 01:18:03
  • Episode 33 - Daniel Simpson: The Truth of Yoga
    Feb 3, 2021 – 01:23:08
  • Episode 32 - Andrea Jain: Yoga and the Politics of Global Spirituality
    Jan 23, 2021 – 01:08:45
  • Episode 31 - Michal Pagis: The Sociology of Vipassana and Mindfulness
    Dec 30, 2020 – 01:27:49
  • Episode 30 - Adrian Daub: Questioning Silicon Valley
    Dec 16, 2020 – 01:21:37
  • Episode 29 - Paula Haddock: Mindfulness for Social Change
    Oct 20, 2020 – 52:15
  • Episode 28 - Laurence Cox: The Irish Buddhist
    Oct 16, 2020 – 01:02:30
  • Episode 27 - Daniel Nehring - Mindfulness and Therapeutic Cultures
    Sep 27, 2020 – 01:02:40
  • Episode 26 - Matthew Ingram - Retreat: How the Counterculture Invented Wellness
    Sep 8, 2020 – 01:42:19
  • Episode 25 - Christopher Titmuss - The Political Buddha
    Jul 10, 2020 – 01:26:30
  • Episode 24 - Miguel Farias - The Buddha Pill
    Apr 30, 2020 – 55:24
  • Episode 23 - Evan Thompson - Why I Am Not a Buddhist
    Apr 21, 2020 – 01:23:30
  • Episode 22 - Michael Ungar - Change Your World
    Apr 2, 2020 – 01:08:41
  • Episode 21 - Rabbi Michael Lerner - Revolutionary Love
    Feb 29, 2020 – 01:19:59
  • Episode 20 - Winton Higgins - Politics Matters: Becoming a Dharmic Citizen
    Feb 12, 2020 – 01:08:09
  • Episode 19 - Candy Gunther Brown: Debating Mindfulness in Public Schools
    Dec 30, 2019 – 01:22:03
  • Episode 18 - David Forbes - Mindfulness and Its Discontents
    Dec 13, 2019 – 01:40:10
  • Episode 17 - David Loy - EcoDharma
    Apr 26, 2019 – 01:09:13
  • Episode 16 - Steven Stanley
    Mar 27, 2019 – 01:32:35
  • Episode 15 - Wakoh Shannon Hickey
    Mar 26, 2019 – 01:10:48
  • Episode 14 - Jaime Kucinskas - The Mindful Elite
    Feb 10, 2019 – 01:23:01
  • Episode 13 Glenn Wallis
    Jan 10, 2019 – 01:44:04
  • Episode 12 - Deborah Rozelle & David Lewis
    Sep 26, 2018 – 01:33:21
  • Episode 11 - The Cranks Are Back
    Sep 25, 2018 – 14:23
  • Episode 10 -Justin Wall
    Jan 15, 2018 – 56:10
  • Episode 9 - Brian Victoria - Zen at War
    Nov 5, 2017 – 01:24:53
  • Episode 8 Ruth Whippman
    Jun 8, 2017 – 48:11
  • Episode 7: Barry Magid
    Apr 13, 2017 – 59:08
  • Episode 6: Katie Loncke
    Feb 5, 2017 – 45:59
  • Episode 5: Funie Hsu
    Jan 12, 2017 – 53:20
  • Episode 4: Will Davies - The Happiness Industry
    Apr 12, 2016 – 58:43
  • Episode 3: C.W. Huntington
    Apr 2, 2016 – 49:30
  • Episode 2: Manu Bazzano
    Nov 27, 2015 – 58:43
  • Mindful Cranks Jingle Introduction
    Aug 7, 2015 – 00:29
Recent Reviews
  • alliobrien15
    Mind Blown
    I’m a licensed family therapist, systemic thinker, and have been learning about mindfulness meditation for years. This podcast has opened my mind to so many aspects of mindfulness and modern culture. It has made me a better therapist by helping me expand my understanding of systemic issues and the need to allow ourselves to be relational beings concerned with the needs of others.
  • Henry Richard McMasterchad
    Buy a microphone and widen your lens
    These are really smart guys tackling some of the most important issues in western Buddhism. Sadly their podcast is recorded through a tin can and string and nearly every episode is about how Buddhists need to be more socially engaged, which is important but it’s the same conversation over and over again. The guests also leave something to be desired—hard to say what, it seems like they’re all obscure insiders in the subculture of Whole Foods Buddhists. Great potential here, will check back in a few months and resubscribe if they try a little harder.
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