I've recently come across an article that outlines the dark side of meditation. I just wanted to know what your opinions are on this matter. I've been looking this up for a few hours today and it fascinates me. What strikes me is that these meditation techniques are promoted for depression, anxiety, etc and that they can CAUSE those very things to become worse.. What are your thoughts on this? I thought a discussion could be interesting. Do you think that the effects of meditation such as depersonalization (outlined in the article) are fundamentally a spiritual awakening that people simply cannot understand or are they faulty neurons that Eastern religions have somehow deemed "enlightening?" IS there such thing as enlightenment? And if so, why must it be achieved through alteration in consciousness rather than living a content life? http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/MaryGarden.html <-- Here's the article.
the world isnt all sunshine and lollipops. And meditation is one of the only things that keeps me going during the week, along with my religious path. It calms me, brings me a sense of happiness that I as a chemically imbalanced depressed person, is a very big thing. I have never met anyone who did say it affected them negatively. If you honestly think the world isnt that bad, I wonder where you are living. I would love it to be all love and peace but it isnt the case. and meditation for many people is one way of getting out of the muck of life, and connecting yourself to a better sphere of existence, even if for a short time.
Meditation is awakening to what's actually happening. You probably do it naturally without knowing it. For example, watching a sunset is a form of meditation.
I think people who are harmed by meditation usually have some goal or something special they are looking for, so they can't recognise how it is helping them, all while further imbalancing them.
thats a month long meditative course thing. thats a lot of time sitting, thinking, waiting, and seperating from the world. and i agree with drew, when you have a specific goal or anything you make imbalances.
My father just say a 30 day vipassana course in November. I say a ten day course last week. It seems like eternity during, but afterwards, it seems like it passed in the blink of an eye.
Maybe if I spent all of my time meditating, searching for "oneness" with vague cosmic forces or "enlightenment" according to the arbitrary and circular appraisal of the already "enlightened", meditation would be bad for me. However I spend about 10 minutes a day with it and it really improves my well being. to such a notion. Meditation, just like most activities is potentially good and potentially bad. Depends on the person and depends on the manner in which it is pursued.
you're right. and i do that too when i'm under stress which isn't really all that much. but i tend to do other things, like write (which apparently is in itself a form of meditation) or play music. i agree with you, and i think there is an unhealthy desire (in some, at least) to achieve this "oneness" and "nirvana." for all we know those could just be faulty circuitry in the brain =/ MAYBE if someone is depressed or feeling like nothing else could help them, this method could be employed. but for a regular, happy person, why risk it? you know..
that is not true. there are activities that help the mind that are JUST good--talking to a friend, listening to music, reading a book, thinking.
I, Stabby, find absolutely no faults with meditation. That you do is of no consequence to the rest of us. What works well for one person is not best for another. Perhaps you have overlooked this fact or perhaps you have never become aware of it.
I AM a regular happy person and I do meditate. But you know, there are different kinds of meditation. I practice zazen, which some in Zen insist is quite the opposite of meditation. That is, it is not done with some goal of reaching nirvana or oneness or feeling really good. You might end up feeling good after zazen, or you might not - that's not the goal. The goal of zazen is just zazen. In other words, I practice zazen to practice zazen. The practice is just sitting in this moment just as it is - without trying to be or do anything other than what I am right now. So if I'm feeling stressed out and I sit, I'm not trying to get rid of the stress - I'm sitting with it. If I'm bored, and I usually am when I sit, I just sit without trying to get rid of the boredom. And as I do so, I begin to see the emptiness of these feelings of stress and boredom. So I let them come, and I let them go. Neither grasping to them nor trying to push them away. The reason why I'm describing my practice is because you ask me why risk it. And my answer is, my practice is not a risk to me. Quite the opposite in fact. The risk to me is not practicing. The risk to me is not even trying to awaken to my life, not living fully in every moment. And why would I risk NOT practicing? Life is short. Death may come for me after fifty years, or it may be five minutes from now. For me, the practice of Zen is the practice of truly living life. Why risk not truly living my life when at any time it can end?
Have you ever fallen asleep while watching television or listening to music? You fall asleep without noticing you had fallen asleep. Sometimes we fall asleep practicing the thing, the alarm clock designed to wake us up. We become used to the sound, the routine and sleep right through the alarm, never even having a hint that you had done so.
Good point, and that would be the case for a lot of things. It is the case with the vast majority of those who meditate that meditation begets the type of introspection, reflection and emotional clarity needed to recognize stressors and leeches of psychic energy. From reading that article it seems like the more harmful practice is a combination of religion and meditation. Certainly not meditation in and of itself.
