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Obviously we’re speaking in generalities, but sometimes people reclaim that power vía speaking up about victimhood.

Generally speaking, a victim is someone who didn't/doesn't have the power to keep themselves from being a victim.

I actually just tried to sign up and when I click on the "Pay $5.00 and Subscribe" button, I get a little popup that says "K is undefined" and nothing happens.

I don’t want this man to have any power or influence over anyone ever again

Wow. that puts him in the top 30 richest people on earth...according to https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#233e45c53d78 which i randomly googled.

I’m a slow metabolizer of coffee so it seems I’m best off without

I’m actually not.

>you've yet to tell me why I'm so wrong

You're wrong about this. Maybe I haven't done it as explicitly as you want, but that's the point. For such a great 'meditator' you pay too much attention to your own thoughts.

I don’t think you did a good job of delineating the ‘woo’ from the not and your tone was pretty dismissive without presenting any justification

>Erm, neither was the author of The Mind Illuminated. It’s literally just a textbook for how to meditate for western audiences.

Now you're coming across like you haven't read the very book that you recommend.

>I’m not sure how you got that from my comment. Not even sure what you mean by that last sentence. I’m sorry that even mentioning a substance had you jump to such conclusions.

Reread the comment I replied to.

Yeah, but those professors weren't claiming to be shining examples of ethics or practices that were supposed to lead to ethical behavior.

Anyways, basically your point is that meditation is like drugs in that it gets you high and helps you check out? Wow, how profound, definitely somebody I would give control of my life over to.

yeah dude, you are going way out on a limb there. But wait...you've done a whole lot of dissociative practices? So basically you're totally dissociated from reality? (to put things in your own words)

So again...why would I care?

edit: also, just in case anybody takes this charlatan at his word and does decide to read 'the mind illuminated' know that many of the author's followers demonstrate cult-like behavior, as well as disillusionment with his claims after it broke that he had been deceptive to his community about his sexual affairs.

I think it's really weird how you still act like you have any qualification in this arena.

I can believe that you might believe that, but you’ve also demonstrated a lack of reality based belief, so excuse me if I don’t care what you think.

I didn’t say nobody would find them offensive.

I actually haven’t insulted your intelligence.

Yeah it seemed weird to me that those got flagged but also in line with a lot of what I read here.

If you have something authoritative to say about meditation, I may read it, but I don’t think you’re off to a good start so far. I’ve been getting the impression that you believe your speculation to be authoritative, which is dishonest and deluded. Sorry if this comes across as harsh, but you’ve yet to say anything that indicates to me I was wrong to say what I said.

Or with just a little self understanding and nuance, they could use the groups in the ways that help them, and still maintain healthy boundaries for self-care.

Or with just a little self understanding and nuance, they could use the groups in the ways that help them, and still maintain healthy boundaries for self-care.

What do you mean?

Very insightful comment, though I might point out that bad memories on their own don't inherently cause significant issues, it's in the the how/if one reacts to them.

Probably depends on how one defines positive effect.

It's pretty significant how many people are willing to hurt themselves due to 'social pressure'.

Really? Didn't seem to be much there to misinterpret.

edit: also, instead of clarifying what you meant, you doubled down on your claims. That doesn't speak to me of misinterpretation on my part.

I'm not assuming. You've demonstrated your knowledge on the subject.

Thanks. It's nice to see there are people who've had similar misgivings around that whole culture.

...so you're qualified to make that sort of statement? Got any publications to back it up for example? Concentrating on something for a cumulative 10 hours and 45 minutes is actually not uncommon in the slightest. Does everyone who focuses on something for that long disassociate? Or just people who focus on their breath? Why is it that good posture and focusing on one's breath in particular would cause 'disassociation' if that's your claim?

Maybe you go through life constantly asserting and believing things that are in no way true....with no experience nor credentials nor having even read any literature to back any of them up...

That’s... not what this kind of meditation is about. Nor is that necessarily what happened.

Shockingly ignorant and dismissive of you.

Ah ok I guess the tone didn’t get through to me, though it does still sound like Alexander is making a similar claim about ultimate reality and mental health.

Lovecraft didn’t actually have any special insight into ultimate reality. He was at least a little bit crazy. Not really a good reference for any of this.