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That meditation reliably causes these crisis events (so much that it's an acknowledged "stage" of the process; the "dark night of the soul" term comes from the

by sixo 4y ago

That meditation reliably causes these crisis events (so much that it's an acknowledged "stage" of the process; the "dark night of the soul" term comes from the Roman Catholic contemplative tradition which maybe doesn't refer to the same thing but has a similar role in the process) is pretty much THE criteria to establish causation; that it only happens to a portion of meditators additionally rules out "the kind of person who would meditate is going to have this happen anyway". Meditating IS weird but, historically, not nearly as weird as a-spirituality, which is the state of the "normal person" in your comment. And, of course the drive to meditate reflects some difference relative to the general population, but "symptoms of deeper issues" implies buy-in to a kind of the therapeutic/mental-health framework of "if you're unable to exist within the range of 'normal' all the time, you have a disease" and, well, it seems pretty reasonable to be discontent with your life—either your life or your feelings needs to change, and emotional searching is kind of the obvious way to address that.

2devnull 4y ago
My intent was to single out a-spiritual meditation. Meditation that occurs as part of an established program of spiritual practice, that goes along with other aspects of religion within a centuries old framework is obviously the opposite of weird. It is normal. Whether what you call crisis events that are part of the process is == psychotic episodes seems dubious to me. The psychosis I hear reported from more extreme “aspiritual” meditators doesn’t sound productive but disabling and in many cases permanently so. In the context of established religion, such things are “selected against” in the Darwinian sense. Anything that’s part of the process within the context of a long running time tested religious framework, be it Buddhism, Catholicism, Hasidism etc… must be evolutionarily advantageous (in a institutional not biological sense).
- sixo 4y ago
  Oh yes ok. I also don't buy that crisis events are == psychosis. Or maybe, my first approx would be that psychosis is a spiritual crisis event sans any organizing moral framework, and the lack of framework is what makes it disabling. But I'm in no way informed.

by sixo 4y ago

2devnull 4y ago

My intent was to single out a-spiritual meditation. Meditation that occurs as part of an established program of spiritual practice, that goes along with other aspects of religion within a centuries old framework is obviously the opposite of weird. It is normal. Whether what you call crisis events that are part of the process is == psychotic episodes seems dubious to me. The psychosis I hear reported from more extreme “aspiritual” meditators doesn’t sound productive but disabling and in many cases permanently so. In the context of established religion, such things are “selected against” in the Darwinian sense. Anything that’s part of the process within the context of a long running time tested religious framework, be it Buddhism, Catholicism, Hasidism etc… must be evolutionarily advantageous (in a institutional not biological sense).

sixo 4y ago
Oh yes ok. I also don't buy that crisis events are == psychosis. Or maybe, my first approx would be that psychosis is a spiritual crisis event sans any organizing moral framework, and the lack of framework is what makes it disabling. But I'm in no way informed.