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Comment by genu1 | Hacker News Reader

Can someone compare this with meditation?

I am curious how the "attentions" differs when one is actually ignoring impulse in meditation from the style described in deconcentration

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In my interpretation of meditation, "ignoring" seems to take up too much energy; it's too combative. I've seen it described as acknowledging, and then letting go the thoughts. You acknowledge that they pop up, they they exist, that they can have an effect on you, that they can frustrate you, then you release them. It's a third person view of your own thoughts if that makes sense. Deconcentration is new to me, but seems that can be a similar strategy of not letting a singular thought dominate your whole mind and/or affect you emotionally, for better or for worse, and allow yourself to return to a calmer state that allows more thoughts equal chance in your mind.

Yes, this looks like Zen and the Art of Computer Programming if ever I saw it. I often think coding well is about letting yourself do it rather than trying to do it.

[0] The Inner Game of Tennis - it's not really about Tennis. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0330295136

In Buddhist meditation the initial exercise is almost always concentration meditation (samatha, breath meditation). This trains you in single pointed concentration, relaxing the mind on the object, skillfully dealing with distractions.

But that isn't the goal of Buddhist meditation, its the preliminary practice. You need those skills in order to release your fixation/concentration without just spacing out in a dull sleepiness.

After that you do various forms of insight meditation (vipassana) which can explore what the single pointed concentration is.

In Dzogchen there are alternating exercises of single-pointed concentration and then releasing the attention and observing all things (including observing the observer and the observation process). If a beginner observes "everything" they just get spaced out and dull minded. That's why you alternate the exercises.

Meditation is NOT an absolute goal with an absolute value in and of itself. The whole point of meditation is to help get you in a state of flow. If, once in that state, you ignore your impulses, you're no longer in the flow. You might as well be struggling with your daily worldly problems then - you are no longer meditating, you are trying to escape yourself (which is struggle, which is the opposite of flow).

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