Distancing himself from current psychosocial uses of the term mindfulness, which he reads as too deeply connected to a Cartesian sense of self, Dallmayr carefully outlines a notion of mindfulness that aims to overcome the calculative thinking endemic to the Cartesianism of contemporary times. The book comprises seven chapters and three appendixes. All chapters focus on an aspect of mindfulness; they include 'Mindful Praxis,' 'Mindfulness and Cosmopolis,' and similar chapters on art, history, and language. The project draws on Western thinkers such as Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty and explores Eastern contributions through Raimon Panikkar and classical Indian and Chinese thought. In each case, the book elaborates on the practice of letting be. Appendixes are freestanding essays exploring mindfulness and contemporary questions of the role of technology, the relationship between mindfulness theory and praxis, and the contemporary situation of empire building. Dallmayr’s prose is readable and clear. Though Heidegger’s influence is felt throughout the text, Dallmayr’s explanations make it deeply relevant and compelling. Through the author's inspiring description of an active 'letting be,' readers will gain insight into a way out of the mindlessness of contemporary society. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty.

Choice Reviews

Fred Dallmayr has written another a remarkable book. Learned and scholarly, it is also clear and unpretentious in its language. Sweeping in its cultural concerns and references, it is also focused upon the most basic and simple enigmas of life. Throughout, Dallmayr reminds us of the real challenges of a life that is engaged and full of thought.

Dennis J. Schmidt, Pennsylvania State University

Mindfulness and Letting Be contains fresh and inspiring words of wisdom from a well-known, distinguished master of Heidegger’s thought. Fred Dallmayr's outlook is at the same time genuinely global, in the best sense of that word, and suffused with concern about humanity’s future.

William L. McBride, Purdue University

Mindfulness and Letting Be: on Engaged Thinking and Acting brings us further along the arc of Dallmayr’s post-individualist political theory. Critical of contemporary pop culture understandings of mindfulness, Dallmayr instead rethinks the concept as an active “letting be.” He provides a provocative and thoughtful cross-cultural argument for the resources, both theoretically and practically, mindfulness provides for a response to global dehumanization.

Peg Birmingham, Professor of Philosophy, DePaul University