Mind of the Meditator (2014)
scientificamerican.com
scientificamerican.com
It does feel odd to talk about all this, but because my entire body and mind felt more alert, it's like I was often able to sense possible negative or stupid outcomes via some bodily reactions (e.g. feeling strange in my stomach just before I was starting to get upset etc). No idea how much of all this should be dubbed placebo or wishful thinking, but at the moment, I haven't had a consistent meditation practice for several years, and I am definitely doing much worse mentally. Thoughts seem to be much more scattered, mental consistency is definitely lacking as compared to those previous times.
It is very much possible, though, that the current state of the world and, in the case of the region in Europe where I live, the war in Ukraine, have a considerable negative impact on the mental well-being of our entire population. Not to mention long-term mental effects of the covid lockdown. There's probably quite a bit more "brain fog" in the whole society these days, as compared to e.g. the previous decade. I have also gotten older, which probably matters somewhat. On a personal level, though, I still remember how much easier it was to handle stress of many kinds when I was actively meditating.
As a side note, meditation is definitely not about "feeling great" -- there's even a term called Dark Night to describe the struggles a serious mediator will probably face. But I did feel more honest and it was a lot easier to maintain focus on long-term goals (particularly those related to compassion and cooperation with others) during the daily meditation practice.
Another relevant thing is that it's not a good idea to expect quick results. I think meditation "works" precisely because the deeper effects (change in one's ethical character?) show themselves slowly, over time. When I was in a Vipassana retreat several years ago, I remember the teacher (a very inspiring elderly lady from Germany) said something like "often times, I just sit". Not expecting instant results is probably also a skill that one learns over time.
"I have a habit of meditation and mysticism going back to the 1970s. The most basic skill for any meditator is to notice when your mind is wandering away from the sensation or thought you are trying to focus on and make it stop – pull your mind back to focus. Also you have to learn to shut up the drunken monkey – suppress (or at least not attend to) the ceaseless babble of random associations and imagery your mind constantly generates when you quiet down your normal conscious thoughts enough to notice it.
I believe, though it’s not something I can measure exactly, that relative to most people my mind is exceptionally disciplined. That is, I can concentrate for longer periods of time, am less easily distracted, can exert more cognitive effort without needing a break from it. This has very practical consequences; given a topic and a tight deadline, I can reliably belt out a couple Kwords of clean copy at continuous high speed until it’s done. Or, in a time crunch on a software project, I can often sit down and write good code until that’s done. (That is less reliable; software is harder.)
I believe I achieved that discipline through meditative practice. It strengthens the concentration muscle – if you do it long enough, even your normal mentation becomes quieter, more single-pointed.
That’s a pretty good “Why do this?”, I think. Of course it’s possible, almost inevitable, that there’s feedback in the other direction; the more single-pointed your normal consciousness is, the easier achieving meditative states is. It’s probably a virtuous circle.
Considering how rare they are in the general population, I know a surprising number of people as bright as I am or brighter. But most seem to get less done than I do. I don’t entirely understand why. At least part of it is that I’m very low in what Big Five psychometry calls neuroticism. But more of it, I think, is the concentration. I sink my teeth into cognitive tasks hard and I don’t let go.
I don’t think that’s accident or genetic lottery. I think it can be learned, and that quieting your drunken monkey is at least one way to learn it. I think I remember getting some vague sense of this in my early teens and exploring mysticism harder because of it. But that was a long time ago; I’m not sure, I could be back-projecting what I learned later."
1: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/09/18/book-review-mastering-... (Actually, the whole comments thread is interesting -- as is the book review, and the book itself, which I got 3/4 through this spring -- heavy, honest, mildly scary stuff!)