--- In [email protected], Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > > On May 7, 2009, at 5:40 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: > > > It makes no sense to me, even though I have seen it in > > many different spiritual organizations over the years. > > In some, there was a calculated cultist appeal to the > > "them vs. us" mentality, and that cannot help but foster > > both elitism and paranoia. But I've sometimes seen this > > in people who are *not* heavily involved in organizations > > I would describe as cults, or not involved deeply. For > > example, look at the ongoing fascination on this forum > > with "doomsday scenarios" and "conspiracy theories." > > What *is* that if not an expression of fear or paranoia? > > And yet it appears in people who are not part of any > > organized group that one would characterize as a cult. > > > > On this forum we sometimes see the *effects* of having > > lived in a state of fear and paranoia like this for years. > > The people who think like this tend to stand out. But > > what *made* them like this, when it didn't make others > > -- who have shared the same spiritual path that they > > have, and for just as long -- paranoid and fearful the > > way they are? > > > If modern meditation research is any indication, one of the things > that is notable and actually helpful is research which shows random > people compared to experienced meditators and then presented with > some sort of averse stimuli: the screams of a women in extreme > distress, pictures of a burn victim having their dead skin peeled > off, a child with a terrible deformity -- interspersed with lovely > scenery, pictures of ice cream, etc. > > In most people, the prefrontal cortex,the most evolved part of the > human brain, simply shuts down and "goes dark". They retract into > some instinctive, approach/withdraw circuitry of fear and paranoia; > basic programming; survival mode. Advanced meditators however are the > *opposite*, their prefrontal cortex lights up and the areas > associated with compassion instinctively "light up". One type > instinctively "embraces" differences and strangeness, the other > instinctively retracts. > > In current humanity, most people's "circle of compassion" is very > small: their immediate family, some relatives, some close friends, > their animal companions. Maybe that's part of the problem. A future > humanity--or for homo sapiens to survive--we may be required to > develop of style of functioning where we instinctively embrace more > and more, to the point on non-object referral embracing (nondual > compassion). Retraction and fear and paranoia, being parts of the > more reptilian and primitive centers of the brain will have less and > less sway over such a future Man. We've been out of Natural Selection > for many centuries now, yet we still are responding to patterns of a > being living in the "the strongest will survive, the weak shall die" > level of functioning. It's time to grow up or we'll actually kill > ourselves and take a huge chunk of the biosphere along with us. >
Citation, please. Link to study.
