Re:A Study of Meditation Under the Influence of Psilocybin
by mistermann on Wednesday November 06, 2019 @06:08PM
(#21468585)
> There is a reason the many eastern religions that were the inspiration for a lot of new age ideas forbid drugs and alcohol.
To what degree and under which scenarios this reasoning is correct &/or optimal is currently unknown.
> While you can have drug induced trances similar to meditation, in Zen they call it "losing your self", the entire point is to be able to develop that skill and point of view without a chemical aid.
Whether (non-psychedelic) meditative states are "optimal" (regardless of what the specific "point" of various practices are) is currently unknown.
But to be clear, this in no way implies that developing an ability to reach these states without drugs isn't beneficial, or that the ability to reach such a state doesn't have unrecognized advantages over and above a psychedelic approach, or that psychedelics do not come with a much higher (yet unknown) risk profile.
I've read very little that suggests a meditation practice is likely to be harmful, and plenty that suggests it is extremely beneficial. But I've read nothing that suggests it utterly supplants psychedelic experiences, and that includes Ram Dass' experience as well, to my understanding anyways. If he personally stopped using psychedelics, and recommends that to others, in no way proves that this is the optimal path.
The correct answers to questions such as these are currently unknown. We need more research and ideas.
To what degree and under which scenarios this reasoning is correct &/or optimal is currently unknown.
> While you can have drug induced trances similar to meditation, in Zen they call it "losing your self", the entire point is to be able to develop that skill and point of view without a chemical aid.
Whether (non-psychedelic) meditative states are "optimal" (regardless of what the specific "point" of various practices are) is currently unknown.
But to be clear, this in no way implies that developing an ability to reach these states without drugs isn't beneficial, or that the ability to reach such a state doesn't have unrecognized advantages over and above a psychedelic approach, or that psychedelics do not come with a much higher (yet unknown) risk profile.
I've read very little that suggests a meditation practice is likely to be harmful, and plenty that suggests it is extremely beneficial. But I've read nothing that suggests it utterly supplants psychedelic experiences, and that includes Ram Dass' experience as well, to my understanding anyways. If he personally stopped using psychedelics, and recommends that to others, in no way proves that this is the optimal path.
The correct answers to questions such as these are currently unknown. We need more research and ideas.