Re: O/T - Harpers: 'Lost in Thought: The psychological risks of meditation' Archived Message
Posted by Sinister Burt on March 24, 2021, 7:01 pm, in reply to "O/T - Harpers: 'Lost in Thought: The psychological risks of meditation' "
Here's my knee jerk defensive post about buddhism (without fully reading the article, so probably half-cocked and wrong - ignore if you like): Meditation is a feature of nearly all religions as i understand it - blaming the buddist version is a bit unfair just because its' the one we associate most with it - eg Thomas Newfield might tell us about contemplation in orthodox christianity (eg contemplation of the paradox of the trinity as a sort of koan (maybe I got that wrong)), or qabbalists repeating the anagrams of the name of god like a mantra, or sufi's whirling about or listening to music to meet god, or whatever. Whether the sufis, the beguines, other mystical christians, taoists, the various types of hindu, or even 'western' occultists, any religions with a mystical aspect would probably include an equivalent of the practice (albeit usually not for the laity). Similarly many religions beside buddhism have annihilation of the self and therefore the world as perceived (as in 'who is the great magician who makes the grass green?') as a goal - eg the beguines and the sufis, even schopenhauer got in on it (though he pinched it from hinduism i think) - this is just normal mystical spirituality to me (same as the desire of some who take psychedelics to achieve ego-loss) - though this world-abnegation aspect always rankled with me a little due to my political views (the buddhist might tell me to lose the attatchments - i'd say 'compassion for the suffering means we should do whatever in our power to help' back - many buddhists would be on my side with that - it's not monolithic). To say intense meditation could cause problems for people with underlying mental conditions (or even without) is obvious really (you might give the same warning before giving someone a strong psychedelic, but that doesn't diminish the benefits that many people can get from them). But it doesn't tell us much about general meditation practices which can vary widely in intensity (I'll have to go and read the study). That's not to say i don't shudder at imperialists and capitalists coopting meditation practice with an eye to twisting them to make passive compliant populace who are encouraged to find the asnwer to their problems within, rather than looking outwards at structural and societal issues - but we could just as easily blame western 'new age' ideas and 'personal is political' for this.
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Message Thread: | This response ↓
- O/T - Harpers: 'Lost in Thought: The psychological risks of meditation' - Ian M March 24, 2021, 12:53 pm
- Re: O/T - Harpers: 'Lost in Thought: The psychological risks of meditation' - Gerard March 24, 2021, 2:30 pm
- Re: O/T - Harpers: 'Lost in Thought: The psychological risks of meditation' - Gerard March 24, 2021, 2:43 pm
- Re: O/T - Harpers: 'Lost in Thought: The psychological risks of meditation' - Tomski March 24, 2021, 5:19 pm
- Re: O/T - Harpers: 'Lost in Thought: The psychological risks of meditation' - Sinister Burt March 24, 2021, 7:01 pm
- Re: O/T - Harpers: 'Lost in Thought: The psychological risks of meditation' - johnlilburne March 25, 2021, 2:11 pm
- Perhaps there are similar patterns as amongst the modern hikikomori?. - Ken Waldron March 25, 2021, 11:34 pm
- It can make you go blind. Nm - Shyaku March 26, 2021, 12:03 pm
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