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The new science of meditation

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Re: The new science of meditation

#391

Post by mk67 »

johndhi wrote: post #73
oldstrangers wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always sort of intuitively done this since I was a kid ( https://zchry.org/words/questioning-my-quantum-leap-an-ongoi... ). I have zero experience with meditation in the traditional sense but I'm really interested in going down that path next as I try to broaden my scope.

I used to play a game as a kid where I'd close my eyes and try not to see or imagine anything. To keep a black empty universe as the only thing I see, for as long as possible. It isn't easy!

Very easy for me, never managed to see or imagine anything when I closed my eyes. It's always black no matter how hard I try.

Re: The new science of meditation

#392

Post by haswell »

jules22 wrote: post #381
haswell wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a gradual loss of trust in logic, reason and science, even in those with decades of education. They fall for silly quackeries and psychic beliefs or that the meditation teacher mystically can know things This is again all very vague, so it’s difficult to understand your perspective. Silly quackeries like what? It also doesn’t align with what I’ve experienced, or have observed in others: I’m still a staunch believer…

Quite possible. We might also be talking about different kinds of meditation. Mindfulness meditators seem to have a healthy attitude. TM meditators start talking psychic things pretty quickly. The people around me are all TM types.

Yeah, TM is quite a different thing.

The recent scientific interest in meditation is primarily focused on the mindfulness variety, which is more about observing your state of mind without judgement, and learning to stop getting lost in discursive thought, vs. TM's focus on mantras. (there are TM studies, but mindfulness has gotten wider attention, with good reason I think).

While the mindfulness family of practices has been well secularized, it does seem that TM brings a lot more baggage along with it.

I think this still boils down to the person practicing. While researching/evaluating meditation practices, TM was something that I decided to steer clear of, for many of the reasons you describe.

Re: The new science of meditation

#393

Post by mistermann »

jules22 wrote: post #383
mistermann wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

"You humans"? Have you been meditating so hard that you are now hallucinating yourself as beyond human? I can't say I am surprised. I studied cognitive science. I know cognitive biases. I also know how meditators around me are basically drowning in them with ridiculous psychic beliefs, laughable arguments and no evidence. I'll leave you to your imagined irony.

Yet another Perfectly Rational (yet omniscient) Human, the internet is crawling with them! Funny how they all deal primarily if not solely in rhetoric. Coincidence I guess!

Re: The new science of meditation

#394

Post by CatWChainsaw »

Meditation became popular when neoliberals figured out that it was something they could make the lower classes spend time on, and pay for, in order to optimize their utility as economic cogs.

Nothing money touches is left uncorrupted.

Re: The new science of meditation

#395

Post by codr7 »

CyberDildonics wrote: post #333
codr7 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's what 10% of your brain is capable of, imagine what kinds of miracles are possible once you tap into the rest of it.

What you're saying is a myth that gets repeated like an old wives tale by people who never check it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_percent_of_the_brain_myth

Oh, but I did check it out, spent 9 months doing nothing but yoga and meditation out in the forest; and there's definitely more in there just waiting to be activated.

Re: The new science of meditation

#396

Post by CyberDildonics »

codr7 wrote: post #395
CyberDildonics wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're saying is a myth that gets repeated like an old wives tale by people who never check it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_percent_of_the_brain_myth

Oh, but I did check it out, spent 9 months doing nothing but yoga and meditation out in the forest; and there's definitely more in there just waiting to be activated.

Don't forget to gather up the world's leading neuroscientists and let them know that they're wrong because you 'checked it out' by doing nothing but yoga and meditation for nine months.
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