The new science of meditation

I disagree that a focus on something other than logic is problematic, though. I'd actually argue that all-logic-all-the-time is a sickness.

> If you convinced someone that the brain has a secret mechanism to feel perfect happiness, wouldn’t a lot of people hallucinate that they’ve experienced it even if it wasn’t real?

Your own experience is some proof against this — even after 10 years, you’re not claiming experiences you haven’t had, and aren’t hallucinating or imagining deeper states you’ve not reached. So even if some people are exaggerating, it’s not reasonable to think that everyone is.

And it would be _a lot_ of people. For thousands of years across many religious traditions humans have talked about reaching elevated states. Their experiences share common features. They teach others common techniques.

> From the outside, both of these people seem like normal humans, maybe calmer and wiser than usual, but who still seek material comfort and the validation of others just like anyone else does.

I think that’s an inevitable part of our condition — wanting to be warm and fed and in the company of those who love us. Even Buddha had disciples and friends. People like people. Sure, some folks live in a monastery or cave or ashram and use that social isolation as part of their practice and discipline. It doesn’t seem necessary for everyone.

> I haven’t experienced anything like the sometimes superhuman claims that come from people in this community.

Consider that meditation is only one part of the religious practice of (e.g.) Buddhism. There are millennia of teachings and traditions designed to prepare for meditation, to physically and mentally endure it, and to understand and process your experiences. Meditation without this set of traditions is a bit of an orphaned practice, a little like Catholics taking communion without going to church or praying or listening to sermons.

Meditation is a powerful practice and it can hurt. People with trauma, for instance, can have flashbacks or panic attacks brought on by it. Trauma is often deeply suppressed in the body, and meditation helps one connect better with the body, so of course it comes out unbidden.

Buddhist tradition distinguishes between the monk and the householder, between the person devoting their life to practice, and the person devoting their life to their family and job and community. It’s like living in the Shaolin temple and practicing kung fu 12 hours a day vs. going to the local dojo three hours a week. No harm in either one, and no judgement, but no surprise that people reach different places by being on different paths.

I guess the scientific method[0] should be the de-facto approach.

But one shouldn't necessarily expect to reach certainty: science is intrinsically humble, as it merely limits itself to the creation of models of reality, and to their refinement, by way of minimizing the error between theory & experimentation.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method

One of the aims of mediation is to gradually understand that this self is really an illusion, hence there are in fact no problems and no history. Past does not really define who you are, and problems are only problems if you think reality should be different that what it currently is the moment you experience it (which is of course totally impossible. What you can do is alter the future though.)

Now don't get me wrong this self is in fact a very useful interface for interacting with others, etc. The problem is believing this interface, or layer we add on top on experiences really is us, while it's really just a useful concept to navigate the world.

We are all mostly a bunch of habits: this stimuli gives this response because we trained our mind to function this way, were raised that way, live within country X, etc. It's all just mind formatting. Meditation aims to discover this for yourself, which should leads you to train in developing new, more wholesome habits, which will make you and others suffer less. Then since you are mostly habits, you gradually change, and become much saner as times goes by. Saner because you're living more in adequation with reality.

So in a way, psychotherapy can be seen as a dead end for someone who practices meditation. Although it certainly has its uses, even for very advanced meditators who can also develop blind spots without seeing them (more work needed, but psychotherapy can be a useful mirror there).