Yes, it will break down your values. Unfortunately if you have the taste of bodhicitta: the mind that wants to awaken and liberate yourself and others from suffering, then you will mostly be forced to do it. I don’t recommend meditation or Buddhism for all, it will change your life in many ways that you will consider bad from your current point of view. Less motivation for tackling stressful tasks, less romantic attachment, less hunger for new experiences, often an increased neurosis, etc.

EDIT: I find it quite horrifying that doctors prescribe it now. If you follow the doctors advice, mindfulness meditation every day, properly, then the doctor does not understand where that will take you. It is not a known thing for them. It only is “safe” because most people don’t actually bother doing it regularly or put effort in

> Less motivation for tackling stressful tasks, less romantic attachment, less hunger for new experiences, often an increased neurosis, etc.

Bold statement that piqued my interest. Do you have backing sources or pointers to this topic?

Hmm not really, just the general side effects that cause people to go deeper into the practise. I saw a study that said that meditation can increase selfishness or neurosis, but other than that I only have anecdotal evidence. The whole thing is about realising your attachments are fake, and that so is your perception of the world, and realising that on a deep level. Obviously priorities will shift due to this

What do you mean exactly by "increased neurosis"? How do you define neurosis here?

Selfish or self aggrandising thinking, feelings of superiority, lack of attention to others

Are you describing something which can happen without proper technique/guidance or something which inevitably happens? And I guess I'm wondering the same for the rest of your list of changes.

It happens for almost all practitioners, one problem is that the secular practise doesn’t offer the “save all suffering beings in the cosmos” narrative that Buddhism does, and so it cannot offer a way forward beyond the insight and into compassion. It usually doesn’t even try to.

I found it interesting because while I can see how the other things in your list would naturally happen as attachments lose power, I don't see why an increase in neurosis would be a necessary or even a common result. (For context, I've been meditating daily for a year and a half, for 30-60 minutes and this simply hasn't happened to me yet. In fact, if anything, the opposite happened, where I engage less in self-aggrandizing behaviour.)

Have you not heard of the spiritual ego? Most practitioners eventually grow a big ego around their practise. Chogyam Trungpas book “Cutting through spiritual materialism” is all about this

Now that you've mentioned it, I remember hearing about the term but I always took it as a possibility, especially when misapplying practice, and not a necessary part of the path. My own path so far seems to be confirming this notion of mine so the things you were saying piqued my curiosity to learn more.

Will I become more self-absorbed and grow feelings of superiority as I continue to meditate? I don't know. But I will still try and see for myself.

It's an obstacle on the path to surpass, it's just that most people do go through it to some degree. For some it's severe: my old teacher told me about a co-student who solved Mu and then became extremely arrogant and left the sangha saying he doesn't need them anymore. For some it's much more mild