An Atheist's Glimpse of God
blog.deobald.ca
blog.deobald.ca
The meditation itself is fine. However the problem is in the tapes. Goenka is not just trying to teach people to meditate, he's trying to teach a particular religious philosophy. He doesn't want you to just be aware of your body, he wants you to pay attention to how things arise and pass away, and from that conclude that all attachment is bad because you will feel grief when it passes. This ties into Buddhist philosophy.
To me the problem with this philosophy can be summed up by, 'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.' I was fascinated by the experience, but receiving indoctrination while I was in such a delicate state was not to my liking.
I practice a different meditation system, and they have their own dogma attached to it. I found that whether I "believe" in it or not is irrelevant. Meditation itself is far too fascinating to get distracted with extras.
Another way to look at it is that some dogmatic aspects may not represent literal truths, but are metaphors for certain psychological aspects occurring in meditation or as an effect of it. This appears to be a very appropriate interpretation for many pantheons - heck, even the Greek gods are quite obviously representations of states of consciousness and functions of the mind, and the ancient greeks were not exactly famous for their meditation techniques.
Ninety percent of Maslow's pyramid has been taken care of for as long as I could remember, leaving me to arrogantly believe it's my responsibility to improve this world
-- that resembles a feeling that often brings me angst, but I always struggle to put into words.
Looking at Maslow's pyramid, way more than 10% of it has to do with very abstract stuff. Given what the author has written, he almost by definition hasn't achieved "self-actualization" in the sense Maslow means. He almost by definition hasn't achieved 90% of the pyramid.
Only a small part of the pyramid has to do with food, shelter, clothing, and having people to socialize with.
At first I hated it. But then I began bringing my iPhone and listen to music. I mostly listen to electronic dance music, but there was a specific genre that I found worked well for runnig; Trance.
There is one "song" that illustrates this very well. It is 9.5 minutes of very monotonous, slowly building "umm-tss". http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...
There is a reason for that name. I found that this music, in combination with the deep breathing in coordination with my steps sort of lets me enter a state of trance. I can empty my mind and just be. Stress over deadlines and finances - and even stress over being stressed - pretty much are gone when I get back home.
It's mystical nonsense. "I did a thing that made me feel better" is a perfectly legitimate statement. "I did a thing and believe it to be deeply profound and meaningful in ways I cannot articulate" really isn't the sort of thing we usually countenance on HN, because it's a line of thinking that we recognise to be dangerous.
For various cultural reasons, mainly ignorance, rationalists are unusually tolerant of Buddhist nonsense, often believing it to be essentially benign. If you know anything of the history of south-east Asia, you will know how foolish that error is. I rather doubt that a post extolling the virtues of Islamic or Christian monasticism with such breathless naivete would have garnered so many upvotes.
Northwest Vipassana Center (PNW Region, I've heard really good things about this one from friends who have done the program) http://www.kunja.dhamma.org/
Dhamma Manda (Near SF) http://www.manda.dhamma.org/
The closest one to NYC I can find is in Mass: http://www.dhara.dhamma.org/ns/
For more info on locations near you:
I only say this because I love that you actually went ahead and embedded a timer in your post -- knowing that the process of reading and absorbing the content was just as important, if not more important, than the content itself.
Regardless, great post.
Even today evening I was thinking of just this.
Your experience has inspired me even more. I believe i must stop thinking and just plan go at the next best available free time.
That said, I didn't see anything in the post that would lead me to believe the author was espousing a belief in God or having found religion. I'd pretty much say the opposite according to these sections:
My frustration with the inclusion of Buddhist beliefs such as reincarnation, kalapas, and omniscience -- we were told to ignore these beliefs if we so chose; I ignored them.
I'll leave you with what attracts me most to this bizarre practice: It is ordinary.
There are no gods, there are no drugs, there is no magic
I also tend to think that the notion of wasting time is hugely subjective.
I find myself making this admonition over and over again, when speaking to folks in the computer industry. Occupational hazard, I guess.
What you said is logically analogous to, "There are no cars in the parking lot, but if you think there are cars in the parking lot, you have to think they are blue."
In other words, blatantly illogical.
You can't reason about the properties of a false hypothetical (unless you think that it's not a false hypothetical).
I find his experience amazing on so many levels, and I am gracious for such a intimate account of that experience (I read the full-on article he references).
why? If I pierce my scrotum a hundred times should I get kudos? No of course not, just doing something uncomfortable for no reason isn't admirable.
Meditation is great for some people, and a total waste of time for others. Each to their own, but let's not pat anyone on the back for it.
Also, think of the crazy rush that you would get from the first piercing, when your body is changed forever, till the end of the hundred-piercing ritual. That would absolutely be something worth blogging about.
The dude doesn't deserve a pat on the back for the meditation itself. If he had been fasting, following a running/swimming program, studying go/baduk life-and-death problems, or playing guitar exercises for 10 days, and he stuck with it to the end and documented it similarly, I feel he would still deserve kudos. Giving one's undivided attention to a new and uncomfortable activity, 10 hours a day for 10 days, is a challenge for most people.
Hell, I'm lucky if I can give up coffee or power drinks for 10 straight days. The 2 or three times I completed a 24-hour fast, I felt some sense of accomplishment. And keeping up with some kind of exercise routine? Forget about it.
And that's why I found his story so layered and interesting. It's not just about the meditation (which was interesting in its own right), but about his dedication, and his privilege, and his turning his mind's eye inward.
Berate him (or me) if you will. You said it best: to each their own.
"Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say in a face to face conversation."
I responded to everything I read in the original article. The author claimed humility but what I read was not indicative of someone whose motivation is to be humble. The author claimed to have learned something from the experience and draws eir conclusions from eir own bias.
I would consider my response aggressive but not uncivil and certainly not undeserved.
Now if you meant to point out that my criticism was not constructive then touché. Here's my suggestion then: don't let your personal bias influence your writing, author, draw your conclusions from your observations. Share what it was like to be at the centre. Everything you described indicates cult-like activity: what about it indicated that it was not a cult? How can you argue that is true?
I think any sort of spiritual experience is best kept to oneself. No matter your intentions you will come off as humble-bragging if you try to explain your experiences and insights to others. I don't appreciate the new-age, spritiual, self-help "industry." I think it's a scam and intellectual fraud. Anyone who offers spiritual insight is probably lying for one. And if they're offering it at a price then they're scamming you.