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I'm singularly glad someone did this research. Anecdata: Mindfullness never worked for me, and I suspect even harmed me some. I noticed that I became more nihil

I'm singularly glad someone did this research. Anecdata: Mindfullness never worked for me, and I suspect even harmed me some. I noticed that I became more nihilist and depressed when I used to meditate. Meditation basically made me start realizing the pointlessness of everything, the little value of emotions, which is great if your goal is to become unemotional and destressed. However, stress and emotions are how humans do great things. It's what motivates us to overcome nihilism, and desire to do something, be someone, etc. I hope more research is done, and we prescribe Mindfullness only contextually and not as a panacea.

sushid 8y ago
I think this is why like most things in life, meditation is yet another thing that should be done in moderation.
wudangmonk 8y ago
when engaging in this sort of meditation, is it not the goal to not focus on any such thoughts or any thoughts at all and just become an observer of your mental state?. I cannot see how too much introspection can be a bad thing and lead to unhappiness when the alternative means you are just fooling yourself into being happy.
spicymaki 8y ago
Emotional detachment is not the goal of mindfulness practice as I understand it. The point of mindfulness practice is to become more of aware of your body, mind, feelings, and develop insight to things as they really are (see Satipatthana). Devaluing emotions is exactly the opposite of the point of practice. Instead you want to get in touch with your emotions, deeply. The trick with not going off the rails emotionally is karma. Positive actions (e.g. generosity, patience, truthfulness) produce positive emotions, negative actions (e.g. speaking ill of others, lying, stealing) produce negative emotions. Karma can also help overcome nihilistic thought. Your actions actually do mean something to yourself and others (at least subjectively) and you can see and feel the results in real life. I agree with you said about context. I think opportunists are extracting these techniques out of their original context and selling it as a panacea to all of your problems. This is wrong and can only lead to harm.
- pdpi 8y ago
  That’s a wonderfully practical and non-mystical definition of karma.

sushid 8y ago

I think this is why like most things in life, meditation is yet another thing that should be done in moderation.

wudangmonk 8y ago

when engaging in this sort of meditation, is it not the goal to not focus on any such thoughts or any thoughts at all and just become an observer of your mental state?. I cannot see how too much introspection can be a bad thing and lead to unhappiness when the alternative means you are just fooling yourself into being happy.

spicymaki 8y ago

Emotional detachment is not the goal of mindfulness practice as I understand it. The point of mindfulness practice is to become more of aware of your body, mind, feelings, and develop insight to things as they really are (see Satipatthana). Devaluing emotions is exactly the opposite of the point of practice. Instead you want to get in touch with your emotions, deeply. The trick with not going off the rails emotionally is karma. Positive actions (e.g. generosity, patience, truthfulness) produce positive emotions, negative actions (e.g. speaking ill of others, lying, stealing) produce negative emotions. Karma can also help overcome nihilistic thought. Your actions actually do mean something to yourself and others (at least subjectively) and you can see and feel the results in real life. I agree with you said about context. I think opportunists are extracting these techniques out of their original context and selling it as a panacea to all of your problems. This is wrong and can only lead to harm.

pdpi 8y ago
That’s a wonderfully practical and non-mystical definition of karma.