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Where electrical brain stimulation and Buddhism meets.
I found an interesting article. What would you do if you could put on a cap and have instant zen. A mind free of doubts, and fears. Just being at peace. You could meditate much easier. Make progress much faster in your meditations. Not only that you could give others that experience. You could give non Buddhists a glimpse at what meditation is like. I believe this is the future of meditation.
How electrical brain stimulation can change the way we think
http://theweek.com/article/index/226196/how-electrical-brain-stimulation-can-change-the-way-we-think/1
Quotes from the article.
"My brain without self-doubt was a revelation. There was suddenly this incredible silence in my head; I've experienced something close to it during two-hour Iyengar yoga classes, or at the end of a 10k, but the fragile peace in my head would be shattered almost the second I set foot outside the calm of the studio. I had certainly never experienced instant Zen in the frustrating middle of something I was terrible at."
"After trying it myself, I have different questions. To make you understand, I am going to tell you how it felt. The experience wasn't simply about the easy pleasure of undeserved expertise. For me, it was a near-spiritual experience. When a nice neuroscientist named Michael Weisend put the electrodes on me, what defined the experience was not feeling smarter or learning faster: The thing that made the earth drop out from under my feet was that for the first time in my life, everything in my head finally shut up."
For those of you that say we don't need that all we need to do is meditation. Well I could view this as a training tool for young mediators.
So great, once cold fusion comes out everyone can afford one of these, and everyone can think clearer and meditate better.
After trying it myself, I have different questions. To make you understand, I am going to tell you how it felt. The experience wasn't simply about the easy pleasure of undeserved expertise. For me, it was a near-spiritual experience. When a nice neuroscientist named Michael Weisend put the electrodes on me, what defined the experience was not feeling smarter or learning faster: The thing that made the earth drop out from under my feet was that for the first time in my life, everything in my head finally shut up.
Peace!
How electrical brain stimulation can change the way we think
http://theweek.com/article/index/226196/how-electrical-brain-stimulation-can-change-the-way-we-think/1
Quotes from the article.
"My brain without self-doubt was a revelation. There was suddenly this incredible silence in my head; I've experienced something close to it during two-hour Iyengar yoga classes, or at the end of a 10k, but the fragile peace in my head would be shattered almost the second I set foot outside the calm of the studio. I had certainly never experienced instant Zen in the frustrating middle of something I was terrible at."
"After trying it myself, I have different questions. To make you understand, I am going to tell you how it felt. The experience wasn't simply about the easy pleasure of undeserved expertise. For me, it was a near-spiritual experience. When a nice neuroscientist named Michael Weisend put the electrodes on me, what defined the experience was not feeling smarter or learning faster: The thing that made the earth drop out from under my feet was that for the first time in my life, everything in my head finally shut up."
For those of you that say we don't need that all we need to do is meditation. Well I could view this as a training tool for young mediators.
So great, once cold fusion comes out everyone can afford one of these, and everyone can think clearer and meditate better.
After trying it myself, I have different questions. To make you understand, I am going to tell you how it felt. The experience wasn't simply about the easy pleasure of undeserved expertise. For me, it was a near-spiritual experience. When a nice neuroscientist named Michael Weisend put the electrodes on me, what defined the experience was not feeling smarter or learning faster: The thing that made the earth drop out from under my feet was that for the first time in my life, everything in my head finally shut up.
Peace!
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Comments
You're fortunate to have had this experience. I imagine that most people charge a pretty penny for that service. NDE researchers, btw, have found that stimulation to the right temporal lobe creates NDE-type experiences and other spiritual experiences. Electric brain stim is cool. Being able to achieve those results on your own is even cooler. Electric brain stim can give us a new window on human potential.
I learned how to meditate in a doctor's office, via biofeedback. My first experience, and it was extraordinary! Very inspiring, and it's what got me into a regular meditation practice. It sounds like you're on the right track, best wishes! Feel free to share more about this.
One issue I can see is that its completely divorced from any kind of morality. Buddhism isn't just about calming our inner demons it also teaches karma and how our actions lead to certain outcomes. So what would it mean if you could strap on one of these caps, go out and commit all kinds of negativity but not feel any of the consequent disturbing emotions from them?
Cool topic.
if it was easy, everyone should try it for sure.
thanks for sharing!
They may be inaccesable now but if they are effective it won't be long before they could be more widely available, particularly for those with wealth.
BTW Dakini it was not me specifically that had that experience. I am just relating the article.
Peace!
Maybe my mind is dark that it would go there right away. I guess I'm just trying to make a point about the importance of ethics in Buddhism.
Maybe by removing the negative chatter in ones mind one's craving or anger would also be removed making the negative actions that arise from them less likely. Pure speculation.
This is exactly the scenario that came to mind when I read your example--Madoff, ha! But do you think such people even have enough of a conscience that they'd feel the need for a clear-the-conscience cap?
Peace!
Peace!
Overall I feel that if it is used outside of the notions of ethics or developing wisdom or compassion for that matter, it may not be much different from any other type of distraction from our suffering and not a real cure. I really have no idea, just voicing a concern.
Peace!
As far as Oppenheimer is concerned. Certainly a nuclear bomb can be used for good in some circumstances like blowing up an asteroid or something like that. You can also get nuclear power. I think it should be possible to do that in a way that nothing and nobody gets hurt doing. It may take some trail and error but. It should also be possible to convert all that nuclear waste into benign material.
Peace!
Peace!
When you commit a harmful, egoic act, in beginners' terms (A-P is a beginner, after all), you do rack up "negative karma", i.e. the seeds of your actions will later ripen and come back to haunt you.
How can you rack up negative karma when karma means action??
you rack up negative vipaka. You enact karma negatively or positively.. kamma means volitional action.....
Avoid intoxicants...
/Victor
Peace!
An awful lot of established Buddhists can't get their head round Karma either, so what hope for a newbie...?
It pays to keep it extremely simple, simpler even, than 'the seeds of your actions'...
If we're going to teach newbies, let's keep it simple and do it right, from the beginning...
The point the Buddha made is that of Right Effort, not right, let's use a shortcut and alter the brain mechanically".
I am suspicious and pretty sure no means of external stimulation can replace cultivation.
If it seems to do then somebody is looking in the wrong place.
/Victor