Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice • Hacker News Board

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#11

Post by blinkingled » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 7:24 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #3

Why do people do all these strange things? To make more money with "better brain" ?

It's not strange - how we live by default, that's strange. There's whole another original, normal way of dealing with life and situations.

To a logical person the easiest take away is that control over your senses / thoughts / perception frees up a lot of your capabilities with which you can do more - whatever that is, money making, art, nothing. You do it while truly enjoying it. It's great if you can pull it off!

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#12

Post by benihana » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 7:45 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #3

Why do people do all these strange things? To make more money with "better brain" ?

To be happy.

I don't do meditation (and in fact get kind of irritated that practitioners of it seem to imply the only way to get in more control of your brain is through meditation), but I practice CBT. The idea is to be in greater control of your conscious and subconscious processes by being more aware of what's going on in your brain.

For example, I noticed that when people make suggestions on products I work on that have the potential to violate users' privacy, I tend to get defensive and argumentative over that point. Using CBT and practice, first I was able to identify the emotions that rush over me when that happened. Then, I was able to notice and acknowledge those emotions happening and finally I was able to control them and let them pass without influencing my behavior. The last step in the puzzle is finding out why that particular issue is so triggering to me.

After becoming aware of these things, I'm a lot less anxious, my relationships are much stronger, my communication is better, and I'm just in a better mood and happier in general.

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#13

Post by fsloth » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 7:46 PM UTC

bsuh wrote: post #7

dominotw wrote: post #3

Why do people do all these strange things? To make more money with "better brain" ?

Every human being wants happiness. Whether it's money, cool gadgets, attractive significant others, knowledge, volunteer work, exercise, or meditation, the general goal is to feel happy.

At least for me meditation has taught that happiness is kinda pointless and ephemeral. It happens, then it goes away. Like other feelings as well. I'm not living for higher goals, but I'm more content by the present, whatever the present may be.

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#14

Post by cryoshon » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 8:10 PM UTC

nabla9 wrote: post #10

dominotw wrote: post #3

Why do people do all these strange things? To make more money with "better brain" ?

Imagine what it would be if you had lived little bit intoxicated for whole of your life. Then you would start sobering up. You would notice more awareness, more focus, clarity and possibly well being. Rest of the world would seem less confusing. Questioning the assumption that your normal wakeful mental state is the ultimate 'being alive and conscious' what your brain can do might be the first step. If you persist, e…

Yes! I have been trying for ages to convince people that the "normal" "sober" wakeful and attentive mental state is not the ultimate ledger of human perception. Most people immediately discard this thought, their minds responding to a strawman argument which equates sobriety with intoxication.

Meditation helps me deal with ADD and depression and increases my executive functioning immensely. I think it should be taught in schools to children-- the mere discipline meditation grants you is worth passing on.

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#15

Post by nota_bene » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 8:15 PM UTC

fsloth wrote: post #5

dominotw wrote: post #3

Why do people do all these strange things? To make more money with "better brain" ?

I feel more balanced after meditation. But I have no way how to otherwise quantify it. For example, I'm also more conscious about being irritated when I'm irritated and can avoid feeding thought patterns that would prolong this irritation. Placebo? Neurological changes? Observational bias? Beats me, but I see nothing harm in sitting down, breathing, and observing my thoughts.

> Neurological changes?

Yes, see: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to...

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#16

Post by nota_bene » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 8:20 PM UTC

fsloth wrote: post #13

bsuh wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every human being wants happiness. Whether it's money, cool gadgets, attractive significant others, knowledge, volunteer work, exercise, or meditation, the general goal is to feel happy.

At least for me meditation has taught that happiness is kinda pointless and ephemeral. It happens, then it goes away. Like other feelings as well. I'm not living for higher goals, but I'm more content by the present, whatever the present may be.

> happiness is kinda pointless and ephemeral

Ephemeral? Yes.

Pointless? No: If you are happier, you'll make people around you happier. If everybody tries to achieve that, we'll have a much saner society. Thus, we should take it as our responsibility to achieve a good level of happiness as often as possible (obviously not by making others pay for it).

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#17

Post by 7An2ieoW » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 8:35 PM UTC

benihana wrote: post #12

dominotw wrote: post #3

Why do people do all these strange things? To make more money with "better brain" ?

To be happy. I don't do meditation (and in fact get kind of irritated that practitioners of it seem to imply the only way to get in more control of your brain is through meditation), but I practice CBT. The idea is to be in greater control of your conscious and subconscious processes by being more aware of what's going on in your brain. For example, I noticed that when people make suggestions on products I work on th…

So, how do you get started in CBT and establish the practice? Any resources?

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#18

Post by wpietri » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 8:39 PM UTC

nota_bene wrote: post #16

fsloth wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least for me meditation has taught that happiness is kinda pointless and ephemeral. It happens, then it goes away. Like other feelings as well. I'm not living for higher goals, but I'm more content by the present, whatever the present may be.

> happiness is kinda pointless and ephemeral Ephemeral? Yes. Pointless? No: If you are happier, you'll make people around you happier. If everybody tries to achieve that, we'll have a much saner society. Thus, we should take it as our responsibility to achieve a good level of happiness as often as possible (obviously not by making others pay for it).

I'm not sure we mean the same thing by the word "happiness", but like fsloth I'm not very interested in pursuing what I mean by it. I think there are other, better ways to get a saner society than to endlessly chase after transitory good feelings.

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#19

Post by gammafactor » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 8:44 PM UTC

gerbilly wrote: post #6

dominotw wrote: post #3

Why do people do all these strange things? To make more money with "better brain" ?

Because after a while some of us get totally fed up with living life the 'normal way': that is to say chasing one fragile form of happiness after another.

If it's peace you want, you really should look into Advaita Vedanta.

Happiness/sadness is but another duality. There is no peace in duality. Once you understand (as you seem to) that one can find no lasting peace in ephemeral things (money, status, physical pleasures) it's a natural progression to throw all the dualities away and seek the source, Brahman, the ultimate reality, formless, changeless. Of course given the extent of most people's social conditioning these days, it's easier said than done but anyone can do it.

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#20

Post by gammafactor » Tue, Sep 08, 2015, 8:49 PM UTC

nota_bene wrote: post #16

fsloth wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least for me meditation has taught that happiness is kinda pointless and ephemeral. It happens, then it goes away. Like other feelings as well. I'm not living for higher goals, but I'm more content by the present, whatever the present may be.

> happiness is kinda pointless and ephemeral Ephemeral? Yes. Pointless? No: If you are happier, you'll make people around you happier. If everybody tries to achieve that, we'll have a much saner society. Thus, we should take it as our responsibility to achieve a good level of happiness as often as possible (obviously not by making others pay for it).

The idea here (that one gradually slips into with meditation or other mystical systems) is that there is no "You". Happy, sad, You, other people, all these "things" don't really exist, they're all illusions, mind constructs, artificial.

Once you see the world for what it really is (a dream), all the masks fall away and you're free to go on with your "life" unencumbered by artificial thought creations that another artificial thought creation ("You") thought were real.