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Cake day: July 9th, 2023

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  • Fair assessment. Though I didnt go as far as to assert that it ‘was’ all bullshit - and is the reason I prefaced my comment with an admission of ignorance.

    In any case, I’m convinced that my friend was not doing it right, either by his own failure to understand, or the lack of adequate instruction during guided meditation, because he didnt seem to have any meaningful insight into his own mind - beyond having a better imagination, which I suppose does translate to a more creative mind in general.

    In addition, he didnt comprehend the idea of being able to ‘drop in’ to a meditative state when not actively practicing. After introducing him to mindfulness, he found it far more insightful and beneficial in general.


  • I talk like a guy who read a pop psychology book? That’s very judgmental. I did my best to articulate my thoughts and you arrogantly claim your own response is better, even though the court of public opinion regards my explanation as preferable.

    You claim meditation is helpful for focusing attention, but this reply is the first which isnt riddled with grammatical or structural errors. You dont need flowery language to describe your sensations.

    As for the dichotomy between drugs and meditation, it all depends what metric you’re evaluating. The ones aforementioned in my comment (which you’ve reduced to ‘getting high’) are the metrics I’ve used, but doesn’t encompass the entire spectrum of drug use. There are ways to compare them, and way they’re different - it’s a very narrow perspective to simply claim that one is just a more extreme version, or that the other is ‘better’.


  • Zozano@aussie.zonetoShowerthoughts@lemmy.worldMeditation is like drugs but better
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    1 month ago

    It might be more beneficial for some people to think of ‘meditation’ as ‘exercise’.

    If someone says they’ve exercised, we dont automatically assume they’ve lifted weights, or done cardio, or stretches; we know how broad this term is.

    One of my friends did ‘meditation’ during his karate days, but failed to understand a lot of basics around the science focused practices like mindfulness.

    Turns out his dojo was practicing zen meditation, which involves trying to illicit vivid imagery in the mind (according to him).

    Now, I dont know a lot about zen-meditation, maybe they did it as a cultural thing, but from what he was able to tell me, it sounded like a whole lot of junk mind flailing.



  • Let’s break this down: You’re essentially saying that paying attention to something is how we experience reality. Well, no kidding. If you pay attention to something, you’re going to notice it more. But that’s not some grand, cosmic revelation. That’s just basic human perception.

    I think there’s a bit of overcomplication here. Yes, meditation involves focusing attention, but describing it as the “axis of your reality” is a bit much. The basic idea is that by concentrating, we become more aware of certain things, which does influence our experience. That’s a simple process, not some deep philosophical mystery.

    The “wings” analogy also feels like an attempt to make meditation sound more magical than it really is. Meditation is a way to help focus the mind, find calm, and possibly gain insight. But it’s not about discovering some hidden set of “wings” or some grand spiritual power. It’s just a practice for mental clarity.

    As for the comparison to drugs, both meditation and drugs alter consciousness, but in different ways. Drugs can give an intense experience, while meditation tends to offer a slower, more controlled shift in awareness. Saying that drugs are weak because they’re like a “dumb machine” doesn’t really capture the complexity of either experience. Both have their place, and both can have benefits, depending on what someone’s looking for.

    In short, meditation isn’t some mystical or supernatural process, it’s about training attention in a specific way. The real value comes from consistency and practice, not some grand revelation.

    Edit: also, bold of you to assume my experiences are scant, and born of conventional thought - when you have no way of actually understanding what experiences I’ve had.

    It’s evident that your experiences with meditation aren’t sufficient to counter your hubris.


  • Zozano@aussie.zonetoShowerthoughts@lemmy.worldMeditation is like drugs but better
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    1 month ago

    Meditation is essentially a self-imposed flow state; an artifact of consciousness reflecting extreme focus. It’s akin to a runners high. Its features include ego dissolution, a distorted sense of time, reduced perceptions of pain, and feelings of bliss.

    This is normally due to the release of neurotransmitters - dopamine, serotonin, endorphins and GABA, the same chemicals affected by common recreational drugs.

    These features are regrettably short-cut with drug use. With training, these states of consciousness can be attained without any downsides (barring destabilizing intuitive realizations like free will being an illusion), though at the cost of not being quite as powerful as drugs.

    Think of it this way, meditation is like pouring happy juice on your brain slowly. Taking drugs is like placing the bottle on your head and smashing it with a hammer - sure, you’re going to get a lot of happy juice on your brain, but the glass might make it unbearable, you have no choice when it ends, and the next day you’re going to be forced to pick the shards of glass out.

    Weird analogy I suppose, but it helps to illustrate why OP might prefer the slow drip.

    At the end of the day, there’s no debate about whether meditation can produce these feelings - it’s simply a matter of whether a person has the time and interest to seek these things out, or whether they want to flood their brains with happy juice.

    Personally, I live in both camps; I’ve had profound realizations about my own mind while meditating, but I also like getting zonked off my gourd.

    Shout to my own comment from a month ago





  • So i looked into the lens flare thing and I’m not so convinced.

    Here’s the kicker:

    The thing jammed radar.

    Multiple pilots VISUALLY saw it.

    It was confirmed to have descended 80,000 feet in less than a second, by both radar and a shipborne Aegis system, which prompted the pilots to take to the skies and check it out.

    The videos we see aren’t the most important pieces of evidence, it’s supporting evidence.

    Lens flare cannot explain the radar and aegis verification, and subsequent jamming, the visual confirmation, or the physics breaking performance characteristics.

    The thing went from hovering stationary, to beyond the speed of sound without creating a sonic boom.

    Anything made of meat would be liquefied by the inertia.

    There was no visual propulsion, or heat signatures from it.

    So, I reiterate, what the fuck is it?





  • This happened to me when I took antidepressants for the first time, as well as being incredibly sensitive to sound, to the point where I could hear electricity.

    Not being hyperbolic at all. To test this my partner and I tested a bunch of devices, she flicked either a dummy-switch, or one powering an appliance, and with my back turned, I could tell her if it was on, off, or she hit a dummy switch.

    Ultimately I couldn’t stand being on antidepressants, I felt like my IQ dropped 10 points.