If you want to see if there is connection, you should study people who have meditated 20 years or more.
I genuinely can’t tell if this is sarcasm.
I have meditated over 20 years roughly 2 hours per day. I think it finally starts to work.
Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
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Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
#92This is a forefront issue that Buddhism tries to address, both modern pragmatic Buddhism and fundamentalist Buddhism. It's why right speech, right action, and morals is one of the first things they drill into you. Most pragmatic practitioners will refuse to teach you if you indicate that you have some mental problems or moral deficiencies that should be addressed by a professional first, as mindfulness may end up doi…
A related talk by my favorite Buddhist teacher, Ajahn Sona, on 'Right Mindfulness'.
Highly recommend his channel by the way.
Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
#93I've seen a similar effect in a subset of people that get super into psychedelics. In some cases, they seem to lead to a hyper inflated ego. > Yet a growing body of research suggests that such stories may be surprisingly common, with one study from 2019 showing that at least 25% of regular meditators have experienced adverse events, from panic attacks and depression to an unsettling sense of “dissociation”. The 25% n…
Who's to say that meditation caused these adverse events? Perhaps some of those events would've happened regardless of if the person mediates.
Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
#94I spent a year in a meditation center, and the results vary a lot from person to person, because what somebody needs right now in life is different from everybody else. Some people will need to become more discreet, while some people need to take more space, some people need to be less materialistic, while others need to accept to use material for their own comfort, some people need to play more, some need to work mo…
Did you get enlightened? I'm thinking of spending a few months on retreat soon. I've always wanted to have an awakening.
Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
#95Whenever someone talks about mindfulness or stoicism, the name that pops to my head is Tim Ferris. Like a less crappier Joe Rogan with an actual brain maybe? I still listen to some of his podcast episodes because he gets guests who I want to learn about. But oh my god the narcissism! I get it the podcast is about success and how to succeed, but for the love of god try to take your head out of your own ass for a minut…
God I can't stand that kind of BS. Thanks for warning me, I'll be sure to avoid him.
Both supply and demand for these motivational charlatans are immense. Something tells me it's not about actual drive to be successful, because the most successful people aren't listening/reading that crap, they're too busy practicing, learning, etc. Instead I think it's a self-misdiagnosis (there's something wrong with me, and it's my motivation) and then the charlatans confirm that by saying "yes, listen to me, I'll give you a short high of confidence, come back for more!".
In reality the success addicts just aren't passionate about anything, and that's ok. What they need is to either (a) find their passion, and that takes time, an open mind, and trying different things or (b) accept that they aren't passionate and enjoy life in other ways.
Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
#96Create a nice mystic tradition that shows people how to conduct their own investigation of reality and awaken from the matrix and such.
They will turn it into a list of rules. Every time.
Fact is people just want a list of rules. They're born slaves looking for a master.
And of course that's never gonna work.
Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
#97I've seen a similar effect in a subset of people that get super into psychedelics. In some cases, they seem to lead to a hyper inflated ego. > Yet a growing body of research suggests that such stories may be surprisingly common, with one study from 2019 showing that at least 25% of regular meditators have experienced adverse events, from panic attacks and depression to an unsettling sense of “dissociation”. The 25% n…
I've been reading Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha and the author makes the same point about informed consent. It's widely known in various traditions meditation can mess you up. I think he quotes someone saying "better not to start if you're not going to finish" or you may end up in a bad place for a long time.
Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
#98Whenever someone talks about mindfulness or stoicism, the name that pops to my head is Tim Ferris. Like a less crappier Joe Rogan with an actual brain maybe? I still listen to some of his podcast episodes because he gets guests who I want to learn about. But oh my god the narcissism! I get it the podcast is about success and how to succeed, but for the love of god try to take your head out of your own ass for a minut…
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Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
#99I spent a year in a meditation center, and the results vary a lot from person to person, because what somebody needs right now in life is different from everybody else. Some people will need to become more discreet, while some people need to take more space, some people need to be less materialistic, while others need to accept to use material for their own comfort, some people need to play more, some need to work mo…
Did you get enlightened? I'm thinking of spending a few months on retreat soon. I've always wanted to have an awakening.
Ah, ah :D
I don't even know if enlightening exist, to be honest.
For me, it doesn't matter. I don't need the promise of something potentially amazing in the future, I'm just interested in something that makes my life better right now.
In the center, I only met regular people with ordinary problems, even teachers. Getting a hang on suffering, one step at a time. Sometimes being completly off the mark, because humans are humans.
Meditation is also probably the most boring thing I ever encountered. It's unspectacular, tedious, slow and utterly mundane.
But it's the only thing that I've tried that brings consistent, increasing benefits in life.
I wish for everybody to find something that is as good for them, awakening or not.
Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies
#100I've seen a similar effect in a subset of people that get super into psychedelics. In some cases, they seem to lead to a hyper inflated ego. > Yet a growing body of research suggests that such stories may be surprisingly common, with one study from 2019 showing that at least 25% of regular meditators have experienced adverse events, from panic attacks and depression to an unsettling sense of “dissociation”. The 25% n…
I've been reading Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha and the author makes the same point about informed consent. It's widely known in various traditions meditation can mess you up. I think he quotes someone saying "better not to start if you're not going to finish" or you may end up in a bad place for a long time.
> It's widely known in various traditions meditation can mess you up
Yeah, and the interesting thing is that in many Eastern traditions, meditation wasn't ever even recommended for the average person. And those that did do it, did so in an environment with teachers and safeguards. The McMindfulness fad is missing almost all of that, and I'm starting to see more and more stories of people hitting a dangerous wall without the cultural support they need to navigate to the other side.
Sam Harris is one of the current major proponents of meditation in the West, and I've heard him say "even if meditation were bad for people, I would still recommend they do it". I think that's irresponsible advice.