The humanities are at the heart of knowing about the human condition; they are not a luxury. The erosion of support for the humanities and the perennial anxiety about the state of the humanities are systemic. The author contends that until people acknowledge this fact, they will keep lurching from one point to another, unable to recognize the repetition, and continually slouching toward but then away from the problem. In this article, she offers five recommendations for how those in the humanities can best use their most powerful tool: the technology of self-consciousness, of mindfulness.