You make some good points. Before I started doing meditation, I often practiced the kind of introspection you are describing. I still do sometimes, but not as m

You make some good points. Before I started doing meditation, I often practiced the kind of introspection you are describing. I still do sometimes, but not as much as before. I find that it really does help in gaining a sense of self and it is also empowering, so I can relate to how it pulled you out of depression. But as you mentioned, it can make a person way too analytical about everything and therefore hard to relate to others. I think it is very good for creating works of art or hacking but for me it hinders being able to just relax and "feel the vibe" especially in social settings. Meditation, I find, creates for me the much needed balance. Nice to have a normal discussion on here as opposed to the flamefests all over the web, HN is very cool!