Awakening/satori is the process by which meditation permanently cures[1] a person of suffering. I notice that people who have gone through the process of awakening usually have little intrinsic desire to share the details of that experience. Getting an enlightened person to talk about himself can be like picking a lock. Causally, this makes sense—people with ego death have little need to brag.
When meditation was limited to yogis in mountain monasteries, perhaps the silence was a good thing. But now apps like Headspace are mainstream. What happens when some of its users stumble upon exotic mind-modifying experiences? I know where to find my local Zen master and how to talk to him. I doubt the median Headspace user does.
For that reason, I'm going to try the opposite as an experiment. If there's anything you want to know about meditation, awakening, etc. from someone who is a couple years past stream entry and has a strong enough scientific background to understand Steven Byrnes theory of what's happening in the brain, consider this an invitation to ask. The most basic questions are welcome, as well as advanced questions. There are some things I may choose not to answer, but you are certainly welcome to ask.
Talking about sex used to be taboo. Humanity is much richer now that accurate information is available for free online. If we are to liberate all sentient beings from suffering, the same must be true of enlightenment.
Or, more precisely, reduces suffering by one or more orders of magnitude. There are stages. ↩︎
I've heard enlightenment described as separating oneself from a mindset you are fused with.
An analogy I've seen is when you're so immersed in a video game or story that you're invested and emotionally involved as if it were real. But then you take a step back, realize that it's not your entire existence, and its salience / importance goes back to a reasonable baseline for fiction. The deep emotional investment is gone though you may still appreciate the story.
Is that analogy accurate in your opinion? Am I mischaracterizing it?
I've heard enlightenment described as separating oneself from a mindset you are fused with.
Where's the mindset that's separated from the self?
It's true that enlightenment involves disidentification with the self, but this is importantly different from separating from anything, let alone your thoughts.
The video game metaphor you offer is a good one, though.
Awakening/satori is the process by which meditation permanently cures[1] a person of suffering. I notice that people who have gone through the process of awakening usually have little intrinsic desire to share the details of that experience. Getting an enlightened person to talk about himself can be like picking a lock. Causally, this makes sense—people with ego death have little need to brag.
When meditation was limited to yogis in mountain monasteries, perhaps the silence was a good thing. But now apps like Headspace are mainstream. What happens when some of its users stumble upon exotic mind-modifying experiences? I know where to find my local Zen master and how to talk to him. I doubt the median Headspace user does.
For that reason, I'm going to try the opposite as an experiment. If there's anything you want to know about meditation, awakening, etc. from someone who is a couple years past stream entry and has a strong enough scientific background to understand Steven Byrnes theory of what's happening in the brain, consider this an invitation to ask. The most basic questions are welcome, as well as advanced questions. There are some things I may choose not to answer, but you are certainly welcome to ask.
Talking about sex used to be taboo. Humanity is much richer now that accurate information is available for free online. If we are to liberate all sentient beings from suffering, the same must be true of enlightenment.
Or, more precisely, reduces suffering by one or more orders of magnitude. There are stages. ↩︎