The Bay Area rationalists including Scott Alexander seem awfully interested in enlightenment. What's up with that? Let's try to find out. The recommended readings listed below are ones that I found illuminated Scott's perspective on this, but consider those optional. Here's what I'd like us to do- for every day this week, perform something that could be considered a mindfulness practice of some kind, so that we can compare how that goes for all of us. Keep it short enough that you'll actually do it ;) And if you find it goes well, perhaps we can all take a crack at it ensemble. We'll discuss what we think there is to this kind of... mode of thinking? Mental exercise? Spirituality? Lifestyle? Minimally altered point of view?

Recommended readings!
Courtesy of Evan:
https://coachingwithroy.com/are-we-there-yet-why-seeking-enlightenment-is-a-dead-end-road

Scott from 2013:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/03/against-anton-wilsonism/

Scott from 2017:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/09/20/meditative-states-as-mental-feedback-loops/

Oh god, I followed some links and it just keeps going they really have written a terribly great deal on this topic... these are not required reading, just more of where the rabbit hole goes! I found a lot of it fascinating, and much more... graspable? to me than most of what I've heard about mindfulness.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/mELQFMi9egPn5EAjK/my-attempt-to-explain-looking-insight-meditation-and?fbclid=IwAR1i7kwAjzcagqssNxZOxOFUrX0CUE9rVq_OvzQYoX5mhItJcESimjA_BDM

https://www.lesswrong.com/s/ZbmRyDN8TCpBTZSip?fbclid=IwAR0QkAkvB26eI3Xo45rPlq15BGmZd5d0xLRSgAnJewCzheJXRC991Ur9OR8

Scott on LW:
https://www.lesswrong.com/s/G2GDw3m4MJ5ixSM92

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/sSpu2EABtTTDmBZ6T/g-gordon-worley-iii-s-shortform?fbclid=IwAR3uYf0C3ZTZoKJ73Ukrfd_kdYXg_ncEFWf9anRluls61wf-fNTt-PLSNKw#xd5n97yejTpn88mDQ

https://mindbodyattention.com/?fbclid=IwAR2fNv8KLTWFtSF9EfZjR8JZNF1ThAGBO7aHk2csar9j9DRHgzfEZ_WG61c