People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
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Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
#2[deleted]
Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
#3I don't want to be "that guy" but... why is this news? It's fairly self-evident in our culture. Just look at the way the people who practice these are portrayed in media. (at least when it's set in the west in modern times)
The study itself is valuable, I'm not against testing things that are "obvious". Just that when the culturally accepted result is upheld by the study, it's not generally worth reporting on IMO.
Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
#4>> Though yoga and meditation were originally intended as ways to calm the ego, many non-Buddhist practitioners do these activities with an eye to self-improvement or calming personal anxieties.
I have noticed meditation being pitched more and more as a self-help/productivity tool/cure all for a range of issues. Is the main difference between 'traditional' (for lack of a better word) and Western meditation just the motive behind it, or is there something else Westerners are missing?
Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
#5There is a big difference between ego and narcissism.
Many people have low self-esteem, which means that they are constantly doubting themselves, feeling less worthy than others, feeling destined for failure, feeling too timid to take reasonable risks, etc.
Meditation helps to restore correct ego functioning in humans, creating a balanced perspective where the self can thrive and does not inflict self-harm by allowing impulses of self doubt and fear to hijack a person's productive effort.
The idea that selfless humans are simply humans with very low self esteem is absurd, and this article suggests that the two are equivalent.
Humans who possess the virtuous quality of being good team players and contributors to society are quite likely very good at goal directed behavior and do not wallow in the emotions of self-inferiority and fearfulness that low self-esteem individuals do.
Think about the stereotypical low self esteem douche who goes around insulting others to make himself feel better. That person is not a model of selflessness and virtue. It takes a deep well of inner confidence and belief in the value of one's own worth to be mentally strong and courageous enough to stand up to injustice or ridicule and to make the world a better place.
The issue of self esteem is confounded by millennia of religious dogma that tells people that "selflessness" is virtuous, when in fact quite the opposite is true. Virtue comes from the channeling of one's desire and one's life force toward noble ends, not by suppressing one's confidence and simply letting others (such as religious or political leaders) tell us that we are worthless and that they know what is best for us.
Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
#6This is actually an interesting subject. There is a Dao "master" who chiefs a temple in California and he wrote his dissertation on how meditation is actually bad for you. I believe he is featured on the "What's this dao all about" podcast but he doesn't go too far into the subject there.
Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
#7People need to understand that the stuff like meditation that's popular right now and gets taught is just a very small subset of Buddhist practice. Real Buddhist teachings go much further. Same for yoga. Yoga is meant to be a way of life but what most Westerners see is just a form of aerobics with a few spiritual words sprinkled in.
Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
#8There are definitely traps along the meditative path, like thinking that rapture is the point, or thinking highly of yourself, e.g., "wow, I'm a better meditator than other people". But it's a bit like worrying about overexercising, not a problem most people are likely to face.
So we have this silly study showing whatever, and then we have 2500 years of brilliant monks like Ajaan Chah, Thich Nhat Hanh, on and on and on, telling us it's exactly like the Buddha said, and that we should meditate and see it for ourselves. I think I'll go with the larger study.
Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
#9This completely misses the point. Perhaps recruiting people from Facebook is not the best way to find humble people.
A lot of people I know use meditation or even spiritual advancement as a way to treat their inferiority complex.
After they fail to realize success in other areas of life they hang on to their egos and find a false sense of superiority in the fact that they are spiritual ones.
Some of these people are the hardest working Buddhists I know. What they truly lack however is empathy and and the desire to face themselves.
Wanting to love oneself and other living beings is more important than any other aspect of the spiritual path. Without that, every teaching is just a string of empty words.
Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study
#10Hilariously strange article...
It starts with the unbelievably blunt (and imo, true): "the self is an illusion." Then is proceeds to go on about how this illusion can be either magnified or diminished by doing certain things!
What!? How can something that doesn't exist be manipulated?
I know "I'm" being a bit dense on purpose here, but really!