Socrates or Buddha?degree, though it comes with this solipsistic risk. Meditation-
as-self-help fl irts with narcissism when it is devoted to observ-
ing yourself. The dynamic it sets up makes for self-absorption
and self-obsession. I suspect this is a key paradox with which
Western Buddhism is currently grappling: the practice that tells
you your strong sense of individuality is damaging could, in our
cultural context, entrench the very attitude it seeks to dislodge.
I’ve put this point to Buddhist friends and they have broadly
two responses, one metaphysical, the other practical. The meta-
physical response is to refer to the Buddhist doctrine of ‘no-self’,
or anatta. It’s a complex concept, not least because of variations
from school to school. There’s the literal interpretation that our
perceptions of who we are as selves are delusions, for there is
nothing substantial about us as persons at all. The goal of medi-
tation is therefore the emptying of the self, snuffi ng it out. That
strikes other Buddhists as too nihilistic, and they prefer to talk
of how everything is conditioned – everything being caused by
something else, and so everything is connected. This means that
to make a presumption of your self-suffi ciency is deluded, and
this, they aver, is the true insight gained by meditation. A third
idea is that anatta is better translated as ‘transfi gured self’, the
transfi gured individual being one who sees things clearly, who
is enlightened. Whichever version you prefer – if any – does
not, though, address the issue of narcissism because, of course,
the problem with narcissism is not that you love yourself, but
that you don’t know in which way to love yourself. Mindfulness
might perpetuate that battle by meditative means.
The second, practical response is to point out that there is
a supplementary meditation that’s taught alongside mindful-
ness, called metta bhavana, or loving-kindness meditation. It
is designed to nurture a loving attitude towards yourself and
others, a kind of sweeping compassion for the world. Only no
action is required: the primary activity still goes on inside your
head. It’s a kind of I-love-myself-while-loving-you-while-loving-
all. This is very different from Plato’s account of love, which is
not fi rst an inner attitude but is fi rst a desire that reaches out