[extropy-chat] Re: John Wright Finds God

[Dirk Bruere]

Samantha Atkins wrote:

>Among other things I have done is some fairly earnest meditation for
>an extended period.   After doing this for some time I thought I
>really had experienced a real change of consciousness and real
>personal growth.   Then, due to a period of illness, I could not do my
>daily dose of mediatation for a while.   I noticed that all these
>supposed gains evaporated almost  immediately.   This made me deeply
>suspicious.   It reminded me of feeling so high and righteous in my
>late teens as long as I smoked a joint every day and spent most of my
>time running a "groovy" mental dialog.   It seemed that in  both cases
>a high maintenance thought entrainment boosted by brain chemistry
>changes was afoot.
>
>I began to find hints as to what meditation actually does in the
>brain.   Slowly it became less mystical and more mundane.   I also
>noticed that during times where I practiced a lot of meditation that
>some things improved while others seemed to be harmed.   Ability to
>notice my own internal story and emotional productions and choose my
>actions more consciously improved.   Concentration seemed to improve
>as far as ignoring distractions and single-pointedness goes.   But
>creative problem solving and level of mental energy and
>inquisitivenessness seemed to be depressed.   It felt as if the
>network of associations and inter-connections in my brain had most
>paths signal strength lowered due to deeply boosting only a few paths
>with meditational attention.   I also noticed that memory seemed
>somewhat depressed.    As I not only greatly prize these abilities but
>make my living from them this was more than a little alarming.  Also I
>noticed that my own self-image, self-confidence was somewhat shaken.
>
>I do find it fascinating that a few simple meditation practices done
>for a certain amount of time can cause pretty extensive changes in
>subjective experience, many of which feel like real improvments.  But
>one of things that meditation apparently does do to brain chemistry is
>change serontonin levels.   Doing this with drugs is known to lead to
>some similar effects on the postive and negative side.
>
>Meditation does lead to more of these experiences, not just during the
>actual period of meditation.   More spontaneous lucid dreaming also
>can occur.    Which makes sense if one is learning to watch one's
>internal mental productions at a more subtle level.   The habit of
>such focus sometimes partially kicks in during dreaming sleep.
>
>  
>
http://webreprints.djreprints.com/1107731187914.html

-- 
Dirk

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