The dark side of meditation

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Neville

"equanimity is the fundamental key" I agree, but this can be achieved(in my experience) in transcendence/meditation without waiting three quarters of an hour to get on your own nerves..especially If I am away from my body .

If it's not peaceful within conscious awareness of the body, with the discomforts and pleasures entailed in it, then equanimity isn't really the case, as one is still continually reactive depending on the body's level of comfort. If one sits for say 30 minutes or 45, then assess equanimity, or reactivity - for what it is.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by TaoSandwich

Talking about the "dark side" of meditation is like talking about the "dark side" of a stick because you can smack someone in the face with it. A bit of a simplification, but meditation is a means of purifying and clearing the mind of conditioning. What you do with your mind after that is where good and bad come into play.

-TaoSandwich

Sure, 'dark side' in this case is a figurative expression for what people find problematic, such as the items mentioned in the Daily Mail, which are observable occurrences I have witnessed personally. In my personal experiences I have encountered a number of difficulties which were directly associated with meditation practice. In hindsight I don't think of them as 'dark sides' but as part and parcel of a natural and necessary healing process, which as you say, is endemic to 'purification'. Since these occurrences were highly physical experiences, I regard it as a 'clearing' of the mind and the body.

Gem,

I suppose that it can be problematic in a sense, but in my limited experience, I have never had bad effects from meditation that are long lasting in any meaningful sort of way. One of the commenters on the article said something that I agree with: when meditation is seen as an end in itself (a stress reduction drug to retreat from life and nothing more), it can be dangerous. In Tantric Buddhism, it is mentioned that meditation must be integrated with a full waking experience of life, or else you will plunge yourself into darkness, nonaction and stillness and become lost. Meditation should not be taken out of context and should be part of a full spiritual journey. I suppose you could call such misuse the dark side of meditation, in that it is a trap that is hard to remedy unless you are aware of its existence.

-TaoSandwich

[aloks5]

nice to get all sorts of view on meditation. well hard to belive yourself will creat confision.

[linen53]

I've come to believe meditation is over-rated.

Originally Posted by linen53

I've come to believe meditation is over-rated.

Probably depends on the character of your spiritual journey. Meditation is about stilling and emptying your mind so that you can let your rigid constructs of reality and slavishness to desire and the senses fall away. If your mind is stable, able to fluidly adapt and not led around on a leash by your senses and desires from the outset, meditation may not have as much of a benefit.

-TaoSandwich

[Shekinah]

Stay away from retreats, these are only money making events run by screwballs with no interest in your spiritual development. Nobody needs anybody in order to effectively meditate as a solitary Spiritual being questing for Illumination.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by linen53

I've come to believe meditation is over-rated.

Yes, indeed.

[anthony c]

Originally Posted by linen53

I've come to believe meditation is over-rated.

I guess it depens from which way u look at it and how meditation has
transformed your life.
I have come to a stage i can just go sighhhhhhhhh.
Maybe if i have 6000+ post it will be over-rated.
sighhhhh i have come to realize i have no clue what the hell is going on.

[ajay00]

Originally Posted by linen53

I've come to believe meditation is over-rated.

Imho, if a meditative culture had been developed in the west in the last quarter of the 19th century , the two world wars and the holocaust, which dwarfs in brutality that depicted by any hollywood horror flick, could have been easily avoided.

This could have been done by utilising properly the increasing association with the east at that point of time,along with Swami Vivekananda's tour to the west complete with lecture tours and meditation classes, and a proper study of Ramana Maharshi, Upasani Maharaji, and Shirdi Sai Baba, who were living enlightened masters of that time period.

Swami Vivekananda , while touring Europe, had remarked that Europe was a military camp with the stench of war.

In 1897 , he had stated thus, "The whole of Western civilisation will crumble to pieces in the next fifty years if there is no spiritual foundation. It is hopeless and perfectly useless to attempt to govern mankind with the sword.
You will find that the very centres from which such ideas as government by force sprang up are the very first centres to degrade and degenerate and crumble to pieces. Europe, the centre of the manifestation of material energy, will crumble into dust within fifty years if she is not mindful to change her position, to shift her ground and make spirituality the basis of her life. "