Not an Atlas?We do not claim to present an all-encompassing, true-to-scale, and objective view of the world with the collection of maps, that are published in this book. Rather we follow the idea that maps are by no means just representations of reality. Maps articulate statements that are shaped by social relations, discourses and practices, but these statements also influence them in turn. Hence, maps (and atlases) are always political.
This Is Not an Atlas seeks to inspire, to document the underrepresented, and to be a useful companion when becoming a counter-cartographer yourself.
Four weeks before Oliver Sacks died, I received a letter from him. In our all too brief correspondence, he never e-mailed. He wrote beautiful, longhand letters on heavy, cream-colored stationery with a blue fountain pen, the script slanting to the left. They were always peppered with cross-outs and insertions that gave a glimpse of his overflowing mind.
“Ideas are cheap. It’s data which is hard to get.”
And whom do I call my enemy?An enemy must be worthy of engagement.I turn in the direction of the sun and keep walking.It’s the heart that asks the question, not my furious mind.The heart is the smaller cousin of the sun.It sees and knows everything.It hears the gnashing even as it hears the blessing.The door to the mind should only open from the heart.An enemy who gets in, risks the danger of becoming a friend.
In a world where the question often arises of what one person can do to resist, contribute or make a difference, here is an answer that begins right outside our door.
Stress, we are told by the mindfulness apologists, is a noxious influence that ravages our minds and bodies, and it is up to us as individuals to ‘mindful up.’ It’s a seductive proposition that has potent truth effects. First, we are conditioned to accept the fact that there is a stress epidemic and that it is simply an inevitability of the modern age. Second, since stress is supposedly omnipresent, it’s our responsibility as stressed-out subjects to manage it, get it under control, and adapt mindfully and vigilantly to the thralls of a capitalist economy. Mindfulness targets this vulnerability, and, at least on the surface, appears as a benign technique for self-empowerment.
...stressism to describe “the current belief that the tensions of contemporary life are primarily individual lifestyle problems to be solved through managing stress, as opposed to the belief that these tensions are linked to social forces and need to be resolved primarily through social and political means.”
Mindfulness training is an example of how interventions are not universally effective. While research has proven it to be effective in treating adults, Kuyken emphasises that “one size doesn't fit all” when it comes to mental health, especially among young people.
