On Aug 16, 2009, at 11:57 AM, ruthsimplicity wrote:
Judy mentioned the concept of meditate and act, the old dipping the cloth stuff we all are familiar with. For some reason this concept always bugged me but I didn't think it through. I think it bothers me because "act" doesn't mean much.
What both bothered and amused me about the dipping/dying of the cloth metaphor, was that TMers (like myself) took it at face value: 'wow, it's really true, each time I "transcend", I get more dyed by pure consciousness. He said it, so it must be true.' We could even convince ourselves we were experiencing them, based on our own very 'coached' experiences. But, in keeping with TM's watered down presentation of inner yoga, while it is believed in Hindu and Buddhist yoga traditions that repeated samadhi does slowly imbue wakefulness beyond waking, dreaming and sleeping, what they didn't tell us is that the type of samadhi that creates such "dyed changes" doesn't really happen in TM, if it does, it's probably quite rare. It will produce light trance and thought-free states, along with wonderful relaxation, and some prana- kundalini side effects. But the type of samadhi that "dyes' a person's consciousness is deep, willed, long-duration, effortless samadhi. And even then there's no guarantee these deep absorptions will change you, unless some part of your practice is geared specifically towards that. In fact, if some part of your practice is NOT geared towards altruism, you'll just end up getting more and more vain and grandiose.
I'm impressed with the recent work by Antoine Lutz and Richie Davidson where they actually demonstrated that those who experience traditional Hindu or Buddhist samadhis not only went into a rather remarkable high power EEG gamma coherence--but the longer they meditated, the more this signature took over the person's everyday, out of meditation EEG. But these type of meditators could go into samadhi, at will, for the desired length of time, they weren't just 2 x 20 occasional transcenders, but masters of it, by their own own will and truly effortless.
Indoctrination in TM, esp. for intelligent folks who are attracted to science, can be very pervasive and convincing. Many have been trained to believe that these light relaxation states are more than they are. It turns out, the Lutz and Richardson work (which has been replicated at least 5 times) tells us that the "neural dying" level of practice is actually miles beyond your typical commercially available, mass- meditation techniques.
It could be anything other than meditating. So does the meditating, doing anything, and meditating, and doing anything, end up meaning anything at all? Accomplishing anything worthwhile? If you are a meditating narcissist, your acts may very well continue to express your narcissism. If you are a meditator who is generous and altruistic, your act will reflect that aspect of your personality. So, does the meditation make you a better person and overcome your faults? I haven't seen it in the meditators that I know. They seem, as Curtis has said, mostly like everyone else. The other question that has been addressed here many times is whether that narcissist can still be enlightened, even with his narcissism. I say no, but that doesn't mean much because I don't believe in enlightenment in the sense that MMY talked about it.
Certain meditation practices, like Buddhist meditation and traditional, will often contain elements that begins by "awakening" an attitude of universal empathy, the desire for all sentient being to be free from suffering. Over time, that intention, just becomes a part of you. Recent research shows this style of meditation also awakens the part of the brain for 'taking action.' So we know not only do such people entrain towards an imbred altruism, but they also develop the brain pathways helpful for taking that action into the world. That says a lot for me.
