The Ascendancy of the Mindful

The former New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges calls patriotism, in its conventional guise, a “thinly veiled form of collective self-worship.” He points out that in the twentieth century alone, over 62 million civilians perished in war, nearly 20 million more than the 43 million military personnel killed. When there is talk of bloodletting, it is all too literal. …