Effects of meditation are there regardless of the religious context.
Although you are right in that the deeper stages (say as described in "The Mind Illuminated") may not make much sense without at least some spiritual foundation.
Don't kill and don't steal seem pretty useful and are embedded within many if not all secular laws.
Re:The Illusion of Being Stuck
by paulryanrogers on Monday April 01, 2024 @01:19AM
(#39891134)
Sometimes with massive caveats like stone adulterers and homosexuals.
I sympathize. As someone who used to hold essentially fundamentalist views, I'm now deeply suspicious of anything supernatural. When I left, I didn't even try to smuggle out any of the good parts.
However, there's now tons of secular support for meditation. Sam Harris, a neuroscientist and one of the most anti-religion and anti-supernatural people out there, is basically leading the charge. I think that says something.
Re:The Illusion of Being Stuck
by noufalibrahim on Monday April 01, 2024 @03:27AM
(#39891641)
Interestingly, my main disagreements with the approach came primarily from the way Harris (and to a smaller degree Alain deBotton) attempted this.
Sure, there might be some proximal benefits to (say) meditation but these are things that were done in a larger (often spiritual) context and I'm not sure that pulling them out of that is wise.