Blurts & Spasms

This is an effort to evaluate the Christian scriptural canon – and ultimately Christian praxis itself – through a synthesis of three modes of spirituality. These are modes which, on the surface at least, seem to contradict each other or invite significant tension, but ultimately combine to produce the strongest trajectory of mature Christian faith.

Questions around how to reconcile the Biblical Old Testament with the New Testament come up so frequently — and prompts such varied answers — that I’ve decided to summarize my own take on an in-depth way to approach them. Hopefully, this can begin some conversations around resolving perceived tensions between the Old Testament canon of scripture and the New Testament canon, at least from one Christian’s perspective.

How we can best interpret and apply New Testament scripture in modern times is something I’ve written about before, and I’d like to rely on those principles to arrive at how that scripture instructs Christians on approaching the Old Testament — also referred to as the Hebrew Scriptures. Along with these interpretive tools, we’ll be exploring how different modes of spirituality are reflected in scripture, and how a deeper context of interpretation  can be synthesized through those orientations. The aim is to discover fruitful reconciliations between what at first glance seem to be prominent revisions or contradictions between the two canons, , and to arrive at a deeper understanding that inspires spiritual growth.

Here is the link for the PDF download: Extrinsic, Intrinsic, and Seeker Spirituality: Navigating the Old and New Testaments

And here is the Table of Contents:

First, what are some of the chief symptoms and causes of our totally fucked future…?  Let’s begin with the U.S. specifically:

1. According to the most recent Presidential approval polls, some 40% of the U.S. voting population appears to be hopelessly stupefied by either blind loyalty or willfully ignorant and delusional thinking – as evidenced by an unshakeable devotion to bloviating con-artists in government and media, and to policies that directly amplify their own suffering, destroy democracy by promoting an increasingly totalitarian flavor of fascism, and endanger the human species and indeed most life on Earth.
   
    
2. A majority of Americans also seem deeply committed – if not behaviorally addicted – to a form of commercialistic crony capitalism that concentrates wealth and power in the upper 1-10%, and impoverishes, oppresses, and even threatens the lives of everyone else. In support of this addiction, a particularly pathological, toxic, and cruel style of business leadership has continued to dominate several American industries, leaders who harmonize overwhelming largesse for shareholders with callous disregard for workers and customers. Just take a look at corporate profits vs. nominal wages in the adjacent chart as proof (from Trickle Down Economics).
    
3. As a consequence of these first two conditions, the most ruthless forms of profit-seeking have created a runaway train of economic exploitation, instability, and risk in the U.S. The results are unsustainable, caustic, often inflationary balloons across multiple sectors, including:
   1. Soaring healthcare costs with poor patient outcomes relative to other peer economies;
   2. A social media ecosystem that addicts its users, isolates them from real relationship and community, ideologically radicalizes and polarizes them, and undermines their mental health and self-esteem;
   3. Overinvestments in harmful AI technology that is replacing jobs across many industries, supercharging military conflicts, amplifying the agency and reach of criminals, terrorist groups, and hostile state actors, and undermining human agency, relationships, and well-being;
   4. Energy policies that are amplifying the climate crisis beyond recoverable tipping points through increasing overall demand and reliance on fossil fuels; and
   5. A financialized economy built on leveraged speculation that will, of necessity, crash and burn to the detriment of everyone in society.
4. As everything in our globally interdependent world becomes more and more complex, U.S. citizens, consumers, and political leaders have become less and less informed, less thoughtful in their deliberations, and more and more entitled in their attitudes and expectations at the same time. The consequence of this self-magnifying trend is an overconfident but perpetually angry and dissatisfied idiocracy that executes increasingly reckless, counterfactual, and counterproductive decisions – while ignoring or dismissing negative outcomes. There could be no better examples of this than the woefully incompetent clown car leadership in the second Trump administration on the one hand, and the increasing abandonment of proven science (efficacy of childhood vaccinations and face masks, legitimacy of climate science and evidence-based solutions, rejection of factual current and historical data, skepticism of subject matter experts, etc.) across the political spectrum’s grass roots on the other.
5. Increasingly extreme ideological polarization and motivation have infected modern beliefs, discourse, media, and politics with excessive hate and rage, disallowing meaningful dialogue and solution synthesis, and exacerbating political violence.

Expanding to a global focus, we also have these well-established trends:

1. Increasing risk of nuclear catastrophe. In January, 2025, the atomic scientists’ “Doomsday Clock” was set to 89 seconds to midnight – the highest risk ever estimated. With Iran’s fissile refinement still underway and the government destabilized by internal and external pressures, Russia’s suffering catastrophic casualties and oil revenue losses in its war with Ukraine, and North Korea and China receiving a green light from the Trump administration that invading other countries for natural resources is completely acceptable, I suspect we’re now even closer to midnight.
2. Erosion or elimination of liberal democracy around the world, often by nationalist, xenophobic autocracies, resulting in the destabilization of political economies and impoverishment and oppression of local populations.
3. A feverish, caution-to-the-wind race toward artificial general intelligence (AGI), without any substantive safety guardrails, that will not only rapidly replace all human cognitive labor, but presents the real possibility of catastrophic outcomes – including existential threats to humanity itself.
4. A steady march past multiple planetary boundaries into conditions of highest risk (see adjacent 2025 chart), resulting in irreversible ecological damage, public health crises, resource scarcity and conflicts, ballooning socio-economic inequality, and erosion of human welfare on a global scale.

 

An argument can certainly be made that humans have navigated both natural calamities and crises of their own making in the past. So…what’s different now?

Mainly we’ve exceeded the tipping point in too many areas at once, inviting a cascading polycrisis that amplifies adverse effects. In other words, we’re coming up against the outward-most boundaries that human civilization and Earth’s current ecosystems can survive. And those boundaries are becoming increasingly thin, fragile, and brittle. Allow me to illustrate….

Imagine for a moment if just one or two of the following factors manifest over the course of the next two years. For the purposes of this discussion, the likelihood of each of these events has a widely varying probability, but they are all conceivable, plausible, and increasingly predictable within a near-future timeframe.

1. Stagflation. The U.S. economy enters a full-blown stagflation recession concurrent with a collapsing dollar, resulting in an enduring period of extreme economic uncertainty and hardship in the U.S., and major political and economic realignments around the globe.
2. Slowing AMOC. The Atlantic Meridian Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which has been weakening since at least 2015 as a consequence of human-driven climate change, exhibits accelerating slowing. This disrupts the availability of fish stocks around the globe, and triggers more extreme and destructive weather patterns in the Northern hemisphere. A slowing AMOC's disruption of economic, social, political, and existential security around the globe is inestimable, but almost certainly severe. 
3. Narrow AI risks. Bad actors successfully utilize narrow AI agents perfected for cyberattacks to take down supply chains, banking systems, energy grids, transportation systems, communication networks, and the Internet itself. Alternatively, bad actors use narrow AI to engineer another pandemic virus, this time much worse than COVID, and release it into the wild. Either of these scenarios results in widespread panic, civil unrest, government destabilization, violent conflicts over remaining resources, and potential collapse of civil societies and economies around the globe.
4. AGI risks. The race to Artificial General Intelligence is won, but only temporarily. Shortly thereafter, AGI proliferates the globe in competing camps, with some projects successfully aligned with human objectives and safety, and others not. The resulting multi-agent failures completely reshape the world economy and centers of power, with devastating short-term consequences for a majority of the world’s population as all fundamental technologies, systems, and structures are reconfigured, replaced, or realigned.
5. Russia. A deranged and desperate Vladimir Putin increasingly finds himself in an economic, military, and political corner. After four years of massive causalities and economic losses due to his war on Ukraine, he is running out of willing soldiers – along with the money to pay them – and his weapons and oil production capacity is likewise crippled. And yet he still tests Ukrainian and European resolve with past antics like incursions into NATO airspace, deployment of more hypersonic Oreshnik missiles in Belarus which are capable of targeting European cities, and nonstop attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian populations. In the face of humiliating losses and ceding more occupied territory in Ukraine, a panicking and delusional Putin then escalates his lust for destruction and power on multiple fronts at home and abroad.
6. Trump. The Trump administration continues to implement disastrously reckless and ill-informed (as well as notably fascist and racist) economic, international, and domestic policies, which in turn lead to economic hardship and civil unrest across the country and instability around the globe, thereby introducing political peril for Republicans at every level of government. Then, in anticipation of losing the U.S. Congress to Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections, Trump invents a reason to implement martial law against “the enemy within” in all democratically run regions, specifically to disrupt elections and prevent yet another impeachment – this time one more likely to result in a Senate conviction. This destabilizes the entire country and its relationships with the rest of the world, amplifying chaos, suffering, and uncertainty at every level of society in the U.S. and abroad.

Okay. So if we’re really and truly fucked, what can we do about it…?

Historically, there have been a few different options that have succeeded for civilian populations in such dire situations. Here’s a quick rundown of some proven choices, together with some more experimental ideas:

1. Nonviolent resistance. This actually works surprisingly well, even when dealing with oppressive, authoritarian regimes. Here is a link to an excellent list of 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.

2. Multipronged sociopolitical activism. I've assembled my favorite accumulation of techniques to achieve political and economic evolution. They range from grass-roots populism to exposing misinformation to promoting legislation to disrupting the status quo…a total of eleven prongs of revolutionary activism. You can read the list at https://level-7.org/Action/.
3. Replacing the Trump administration via joint impeachment prior to 2028. If a sufficient majority of progressive Democrats and Independents are elected to both houses of Congress in the 2026 midterms, and enough sufficiently brave Republicans in Congress fulfill their oath to the U.S. Constitution, we can initiate a trial and convict Donald Trump and J.D. Vance under joint impeachment proceedings. Then a new, more progressive Democratic majority House Speaker can become acting POTUS until the 2028 Presidential election.
4. Republican lobbying of Congress. There is a large constituency of responsible, thoughtful, and patriotic conservatives in the U.S. who could, if they chose to break with their MAGA brothers and sisters, place significant pressure on their representatives in Washington D.C. to change the fascist course of our country and rein in the Trump administration. There is also some percentage of MAGA who, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, are feeling increasingly unconformable with Trump’s policies, and could also contribute to Congress recovering the oversight responsibilities it has advocated. The most recent bipartisan efforts to push back on Trump’s tyranny indicate this trend has begun – but is there courage and determination of more Republicans to follow through?
5. Violent protest and revolution. This is an unfortunate default throughout human history, but it can often result in the installation of just another violent and oppressive government to replace the old one. Also, it’s now pretty clear that the Trump administration routinely invents civilian violence, and would benefit from more of it – likely to justify an expansion of militarized crackdown as we approach the 2026 midterms. Just look at how ICE agents are being deployed if you have any doubts. So violent protest and revolution is not an ideal option in the short or long run. It is better to exemplify the outcome we want to see in the world as an inherent part of our activism (see options #1, #2, #3, and #4).
6. Thoughtful media consumption. To participate effectively in politics and socio-economic activism, we must be well-informed. This can be a challenge in an algorithm-driven world of media that aims to enrage and addict us even as it extracts profit from that compulsive engagement. But it is possible to be more thoughtful. First, it is helpful to cultivate a starting point of credible news and information sources, and to appreciate the agendas and techniques at work in modern disinformation campaigns. I have assembled resources specific to Russian and far-right propaganda – and our means of inoculation against it – in this link:  https://level-7.org/Challenges/Opposition/. And here is another helpful cheat sheet for examining sources of information more critically: https://www.wikihow.life/Consume-Media-Critically. I recently also had a friend advise me on the best way to avoid algorithmic distractions on YouTube. His advice was to actively “subscribe” to credible, vetted sources for podcasts and informational videos beyond the mainstream, and primarily follow and watch those subscriptions, rather than watching what the YouTube algorithm or corporate mainstream media feeds.
7. Prayer and meditation. Personally, I am heartily committed to prayer and meditation, though not as standalone options. As with many spiritual traditions, my belief is that action – or “praxis” – is an inherent component of faith. For me, this means I will employ skillful compassion, or what Christianity calls agape, in all of my choices to promote positive change, which are in turn supported by prayer and meditation. As for some recommendations on specific meditation and prayerful practices, here is a free online book for you to peruse: Essential Mysticism.
8. Promoting an alternative vision. This is big-picture stuff, but it is probably essential to humanity’s thriving, so that we can depart from the status quo on multiple fronts. We need to have a plan. In fact, I think one of the reasons we are increasingly mired in a crony capitalist dystopia is because movements like Occupy Wall Street did not offer any clear alternatives for us to embrace. Here is website I’ve dedicated to an alternative vision, assembled in largest part from real-world successes around the globe: https://level-7.org/. You can also read an introduction of the central ideas of Level 7 in this AI-assisted overview.  
9. Other ideas. Although I believe that we must remedy the underlying issue of our commitment to a toxic profit motive in virtually every arena, there are nevertheless some helpful half-measures that may be able to mitigate capitalism’s harshest (but inevitable) consequences – at least for a little while. One set of such thoughtful half-measures for the U.S.A. can be found here: UNFTR’s 5 Non-Negotiables. But again…these efforts will not stave off the worst outcomes of those six disruptive factors we just outlined above. I believe we need to be a lot more radical in both our aspirational vision and our real-world activism.

That’s a start. Whatever we decide to do, let’s not wait too long to begin our critical next steps. Perhaps you can pick just one of the areas above and try it on for size. Commit right now to exploring your chosen role over the next month or two, and see how it feels. If it's not your thing, then try another approach. Personally, I'm in favor of all of these activities except violent revolution, so I put some thought, planning, self-education, promotion, financial support, creativity, political action, or other supportive effort into many of them nearly every week. I mean...what have we got to lose? If we do nothing, then we could lose everything.

Thank you for the question Otto. I feel the challenge here is that we humans tend to project our conceptions of consciousness into such inquiries and definitions, when really whatever consciousness exists beyond our own ordinary consciousness is either a) completely beyond our ability to comprehend or categorize, or b) only intuitable in brief flashes of insight. So when we infer various qualities of consciousness against the backdrop of the Absolute — or within the context of its emanations — we immediately begin confining what we mean by “consciousness” to a pretty limited (and thus likely inaccurate) semantic container. Trying to then communicate this with what we assume to be commonly agreed-upon terms can often muddy the water further (at least in my experience). So we may indeed be able to sketch out some assumptions about essential or fundamental qualities of consciousness expressed in, say, the felt experience of perpetual unfolding of Divine Being in our material plane, but I suspect we will always have to hold these insights lightly, acknowledging they are just fingers pointing at the moon, and not the moon itself. That said, understanding this is IMO a worthwhile pursuit…if one that can only be answered satisfactorily via deep meditation.

My 2 cents.

Thanks or the question. My thoughts on this…

1) Meditation does not nourish all of our being — just certain parts. Finding other activities and disciplines that nourish other dimensions of our life will energize routines we attempt in unrelated areas. This is a principle of Integral Lifework — it may seem counterintuitive, but it works.

2) There are many different forms of meditation. One may appeal to you more than another — or be more helpful for you. Check out “resources” in the link above for some freely available descriptions and sample practices (for example, from the book Essential Mysticism).

3) Creating a structure, routine and regular designated space around meditation can be extremely helpful. If you practice at the same time each day, and always in the same physical space, this will have a reinforcing effect on your practice (it will often create a momentum that carries you forward).

4) There may be something — a barrier within — that is disrupting your ability to meditate or continue meditating. There may be fear, or difficult internal material to confront, or confusion and disorientation. Engaging barriers and working through them with patience and compassion can be very healing…regardless of the resulting impact on your mediation practice. Sometimes this requires the assistance of a counsellor, coach, therapist or support group.

5) Meditating with others in an established group (or one that you create yourself) can offer a huge advantage — accountability, routine, social connections, support and encouragement, etc.

My 2 cents.

There are a number of ways to approach this — and some will be better suited to who you are (your personality and experiences) than others. For example, you could:

1. Explore the source of your assumptions, and then challenging those assumptions, using the downward arrow technique or other cognitive approach. This can be done with the help of a therapist, or using a CBT workbook, etc.

2. Introspective meditation on the nature of the Divine, the nature of your relationship with the Divine, the nature of your own spiritual Self, etc.

3. Reading love-centric literature about the Divine, such as the poems of Hafiz, or the Gospel of John, etc. There is a fellow named Daniel Ladinsky who has compiled some of the best of these from different traditions in Love Poems from God.

4. Begin a gratitude practice that focuses on all the good in your life, in yourself and in the world. There is a sample outline of this practice in my book Essential Mysticism, which you can peruse online for free here: Integral Lifework —Essential Mysticism

5. All of the above.

I hope this was helpful.

A difficult question to answer — because there isn’t really a universal or absolute correlation between any of the events, qualities or outcomes described in the question. The answer to all three is really: “Sometimes.” Sometimes, with the right kind of meditation, for a person who is receptive and genuine in their intentions, morality is nudged in a more mature direction by meditation alone. In my Integral Lifework system, however, most often meditative practice would only address one or two of thirteen dimensions that require our attention, care and nurturing — and without engaging all the other dimensions as well, moral growth is a lot less likely. And even then, there will still be many moments of choice when a person must intend to grow, change and integrate their transformational experiences — rather than ignore, reject or suppress them (which can indeed happen) — so that moral maturity is emergent. In the same way, a person’s awakening to unitive consciousness/love-consciousness will sometimes inspire them to be kinder and more considerate of others as an organic consequence — to, in effect, develop skillfulness in their compassion — and sometimes, depending on their inherent character, require more deliberate cultivation. But here again there will be choices about whether an intentionality anchored in “the good of All” is acceptable, embraceable, or actualizeable. Again a person’s native propensities inform what is most likely: are they naturally prosocial? Do they have a mental illness? Are they perceptive? On the autism spectrum? Abused as a child? There are a lot of factors in play, and consistent focus over time is another hurdle in this regard. Once again multiple dimensions of a person come into play. But very often, at each stage in the processes of interior development and exterior operationalization, if a person turns away from the difficult realizations they are facing, they sometimes can and do act out in destructive ways towards themselves or others. So at any point along their journey, the option to drop out, act out, or backslide is always present — and usually less inadvertent that previously, because awareness and awakeness has increased. Here again, though, a choice. Over and over…so many choices. In my experience, most folks (myself included) will shy away from embracing really difficult ahas at one point or other…delaying or denying…and that itself can lead to difficult periods in which all three aspects of the question seem like a disconnected or arbitrary struggle — with lots of negative consequences. But…well…this only sometimes becomes a serious derailment or journey’s end.

My 2 cents.

I think focusing this question a bit more in terms of time and place would be helpful. For example, we could say:

1. In the postmodern era among Western societies, it has become vogue to remain skeptical and even cynical about anything that lacks an emperical basis. In fact, we could say that over-emphasis (in education, but also culturally) on reductionist analysis and purely rational justifications would make it much more challenging to allow other input streams. In particular, anything smacking of “spirituality” seems to have garnered a reflexive disdain for those who gravitate toward empiricism, so that an almost irrational skepticism becomes an insurmountable obstacle.

2. In many Eastern cultures the exploration of ontological questions does not exclude spirituality or non-rational experiences and inputs. In fact various philosophical traditions are as much “spiritual” as they are “rational,” and do not prioritize one input stream over another in the course of self-examination of interpretation of peak experiences. Such a culture (and educational milieux), therefore, does not feel the need to reflexively dismiss the non-empirical in the same manner that Western culture seems to cultivate.

These are gross generalizations, but hopefully you can weave between the obvious extremes here.

My 2 cents.

I started experiencing what I was told to be kundalini awakening. My interest in meditation was simply for relaxing and better luck to possibly win the lottery and not any kind of enlightenment. So should I stop meditation because I am supposedly experiencing kundalini awakening?

It is hard to provide feedback on this without knowing all of the details of your situation. However, here are some general guidelines:

1. Meditation - or any such discipline - is most fruitful when it is a voluntary choice, rather than a compulsion or a duty.

2. Focusing on material gain or improving your “luck” is not the purpose of any form of meditation that will be beneficial to you over the long term. If you believe that, you have been misinformed.

3. In my experience, kundalini awakening is not “reversible.” If it’s already begun, it’s impacts will continue even if you stop meditating, you just won’t be consciously engaging in the process. It is, however, possible to repress your own growth and actualization…which is rarely a good idea.

4. If you are experiencing extreme physical discomfort and agitation during or after meditation - or if you feel like your emotions or mentation are becoming “out of control” in some way - then by all means cease meditating. These are indications of improper technique, pushing yourself too hard, or not applying the fruits of meditation to your life in incremental ways.

5. It is possible to do real harm to yourself by not meditating in a productive manner. You can harm your body, mind, heart and spirit. This is why many schools of meditation require a mentor or teacher with years of experience, an authentic in-person relationship to guide the process, and a spiritual tradition that is grounded in centuries of practice. It sounds like you have gotten involved in something fairly unhealthy or gimmicky that doesn’t conform to these best practices.

My 2 cents.


From Quora question: https://www.quora.com/Should-I-stop-meditating/answer/T-Collins-Logan

A couple of thoughts to echo some of what has already been said and add a thing or two…

- As few distractions as possible - a “safe place” where you won’t be interrupted by abrupt sounds, interactions, electronic devices, etc. This is especially useful when you begin meditation practice…it helps with focus and discipline.

- Natural environments outdoors are great - if you can be alone and undisturbed.

- Creating a “consecrated space” that you revisit each day can reinforce disciplined practice. There is something about returning to the same physical location (and same body position, meditation routine, etc.) that helps strengthen meditation.

- A consistent length of time. This turns out to be quite helpful. Even if you aren’t meditating for the entire duration, knowing that you have a set period to be meditating anchors one’s practice.

- A clear intention for your practice. Why are you meditating? What is the point? Knowing this before you begin (and recalling it to mind afterwards) are useful and productive bookends.

For other suggestions, I recommend reading this book online for free: Integral Lifework: Essential Mysticism

My 2 cents.

From Quora: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-environment-for-meditation/answer/T-Collins-Logan

Hi Pete - thanks for the A2A.

I only know you through your posts and questions here on Quora, so I’ll assume you want some substance here, and not just something formulaic or trite. That said, I appreciate what both Achintya Idam and Alex Zendo have written, as there posts resonate with my own experiences. Here’s what I would add:

As I mentioned in my post here T Collins Logan's answer to What is the real power of pranayama and meditation?, we should take special care with physiologically-enhanced approaches to state changes. For some people, there can be real damage done if we are not careful, disciplined, diligent and informed.

I would describe “awakening” in this context as an ongoing process with many components (a continuous series of “awakenings”), rather than a single event. Yes, there are occurrences that have a more lasting impact or a greater sense of breakthrough, but I sincerely wonder whether we should give more attention to any of those. Each expansion of (inward-outward) awareness has its own value and edification, and informs us regarding a specific plane of relating (mind-to-body, self-to-other, ego-to-Self, Self-to-Universe, etc.). Also, to be aware in such depth and breadth is not always a blessing; sometimes it is a burden. Again, this is yet another reason to exercise care and patience - though this is equally true of any form of meditation.

As with all processes of spiritual consciousness and peak experience, knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If we do not rapidly and persistently translate the consequences of rising kundalini into love-conscious action in all of our relationships, goals and planning, then we are basically engaging in a form of spiritual masturbation. For some practitioners (and indeed even some traditions) this is an okay state of affairs. In my view, it is akin to alleviating one’s own suffering and not caring about the suffering of others - it is essentially endorsing a selfish and petty spiritual practice.

The energization of higher-order spiritual consciousness (in this context, the kundalini rising through the sahasrara/crown chakra) is a turning point which cannot be reversed. This is a critical concept to appreciate IMO. Once this energization has taken place, there is no turning back without willful denial and a consequent, often persisting experience of cognitive dissonance. Now it is also true that without adequate preparation, the experience may be misunderstood (and either trivialized or exaggerated), but with care, discipline and diligence it can be transformative.

Lastly I wanted to speak to gratitude. A kundalini awakening evokes powerful emotions, insights and understanding that are essentially ineffable. Our human tendency is to then contextualize those within a) our personal knowledge base; b) the teachings of the tradition within which we practice; c) neurophysiological explanations that appeal to our analytical mind; or d) some other equally ill-fitting window dressing. If we can resist this impulse, and allow ourselves to endure the unknowable without such supports and security, then I believe both we as practitioners will benefit immensely and in unanticipated ways, and those around us will also benefit to a greater degree. I think of this as akin to feeling perpetual gratitude without a specific locus; a praying-without-ceasing as a substantive felt connection without a reflexively or dogmatically confined object.

My 2 cents.

(From Quora question: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-real-power-of-pranayama-and-meditation/answer/T-Collins-Logan)

Question details: If the cause of suffering is desire yet one desires justice (not from spite, but out of an ernest heart), and this desire brings them pain, should they let it go even though their suffering might bring justice to others?

I would agree with Pete Ashly’s approach - in fact I would encourage meditating on his answer for a while to see what arises for you.

When I read your question, for me it translated into this: “Does a boddhisattva suffer while helping liberate others?” What do you think? If they have fully realized emptiness - even within their decision to help liberate others - why would they suffer as a result of craving? And even if they experience personal pain because of their choice to remain, that pain is understood differently, isn’t it? To remain in the world but operate outside the (internal) dynamics of suffering does not mean there is no pain, but that the subjective importance, power and active perpetuation of pain attenuates. In this context, then, the coincidence of justice and pain parallels the coincidence of active compassion in postponing Nirvana.

Then I read what I believe to be your comments regarding “justice” as “having a person know that what they did was wrong while hindering their ability to further commit their crime,” and another regarding intervening in abuse. Is hindering harm not right action? Of course it is, when it arises out of compassion. If you are provided a compassionate means of intervening where there is abuse, is this not right action as well? It is only a question of what degree of resistance you present to the wrongdoer, and the state of your mind and heart while doing so. To understand this and skillfully embody it is, I think, part of the intimate unfolding of ahimsa for any practitioner who subscribes to that precept. There are a number of diverging views about this in the sutras - and indeed among the scriptures of many other traditions as well. Which for many of us illustrates why this is an emergent personal journey.

My 2 cents.

(see https://www.quora.com/What-should-one-do-if-they-feel-they-should-keep-their-Dukkha)

Why does this matter to you? Is it intellectual curiosity? A longing to grow spiritually? A journey of understanding within a particular tradition? Something else?

I like Sid Kemp’s answer most out of the 48 I have read so far. If breaking free of illusions (or ego, self-construct, etc.) has no observable consequences in how we engage the world, then what is the value of such freedom?

IMO the convictions and post-rationalizations that follow a profound felt/intuited aha experience are just that: sensations, justifications and explanations after-the-fact.

One common trap is finding others who have shared in the experience and reinforcing the constructive illusion as a group. A very comforting trap - especially for teachers (and perhaps Quora users?).

Here is an interesting phenomenon to mediate on in the context of your question: Apophenia

Lastly, in my Integral Lifework practice, spiritual discipline and nourishment is one of thirteen dimensions of being we do well to attend to in an ongoing way. For devout spiritual practitioners it is sometimes easy to forget or neglect the other twelve, but they are equally important to our well-being, growth and development.

But all of this is just so much blah blah blah outside of personal experience. To paraphrase Rumi: “Even if we possess the knowledge of Plato, we are still outside of the Palace.”

My 2 cents.

Thanks for the A2A.

I had to laugh when I saw your question because…well this is an extremely complex topic and there seems to be very little agreement among neuroscientists regarding these kinds of correlations. You could, in effect, say “Sure! DMN activation has a direct impact on ego development and stages. Why not?” And you could probably find some research to at least marginally support your view. But in reality…we just don’t know - in fact we don’t even know (for certain) if the DMN actually exists, or just captures a current picture of a certain combination/distribution of brain functions. In other words, it may only be a placeholder for a more complex understanding still waiting in the wings.

That said, here’s my take using what I believe to be a relatively current inclusion of relevant placeholders….

I suspect that ego formation and development relies on equal involvement from several systems and regions of the brain. These probably include the Default Mode Network, the Salience Network, the Central Executive Network, various avenues of inter-hemispheric exchange, MTL structures and their communication with higher level cortical regions/functions, and many more contributive regions, structures and functions. In fact I would further assert that without all of these components interacting smoothly and in healthy harmony with each other, ego formation and development would be difficult - and perhaps not occur predictably, or at all. This balance is so orchestral in nature that emotional trauma or physiological disruption to any of these components could sabotage the expected course of how narrative self relates to ego, how ego relates to the perceived world around it, how egoic impulses are managed and so on. And then there are the more conscious or deliberate modes of ego-transformation, which likely depend on additional variables and involvements.

So I suppose the moral of this answer is: we should be wary of overzealous reductionism.

My 2 cents.

Comment from Prasanth Chandrahasan: There is a background to this question. Unfortunately, when trying to add this as a question detail, I am exceeding Quora’s word limit. Please don’t downvote and collapse because this is important.

Ken Wilber has argued, citing the work of developmental psychologist late Skip Alexander that only meditation can bring about a change in ego development between the ages of 25 to 55. Specifically, any one who meditates regularly for at least five years is shown to jump two levels in an ego development cycle. Wilber refers to Loevinger's stages of ego development and also to several other models as well.

Alexander’s research focused on Transcendental Meditation (TM) which is known to activate the Default Mode in the brain (I am aware of the ambiguity of this term but herein it is referred as per the research papers). So putting these together, one could argue that the brain’s ability to wander around (or be in Default Mode) is actually helpful in ego development.

Sure enough, there is a lot of research in the field all of which are coming from the TM organization (Alexander too). Not that I don’t trust it, just wondering if this is an area of active research and if so, is there any definitive results.

I have read your post Prasanth. I appreciate Ken’s work but he is mistaken in this regard - I think he is probably referencing his own experience, but there are many different ways to encourage development along any trajectory (that is, whether one agrees with Loevinger’s stages or not). Consider, for example, the different non-meditative paths of yoga, any of which could enhance the maturation of ego state. As for research to support this assertion, that is sparse. Additionally, some forms of meditation activate the DMN, but others do not, so that is not a reliable touchstone for comparison. In fact I would return you to my original answer, in that even with meditation, unless there is integration and harmony via all of the components referenced, ego development will not occur. Incidentally, I would offer a slightly different take on ego development that I think exceeds Loevinger’s schema and is inclusive of moral development. You can view that here (just scroll down page to view document): Integral Lifework Developmental Correlations

(see https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-relation-between-human-brains-ability-to-switch-to-Default-Mode-and-the-development-of-ego-stages)

Thanks for the A2A Pete. I had to laugh when I saw this…it’s a big question with a simple experiential answer: try it and you’ll see. So as to be less trite, however, I’ll offer a few nuggets to mull over:

- After seven years of self inquiry Jorge realized there was nothing there. Nothing at all. Self was annihilated and only emptiness filled the place it had once occupied.

- After fifteen years of self inquiry Martha became God; that is, she recognized a complete absence of differentiation between her Self and the Divine. It was a very humbling experience.

- After a lifetime of self inquiry Wu Wei encountered a unitive substrate of being that consumed all independent and personal aspects of identity, so that all that remained was the Tao.

- After twenty-seven lifetimes of self-inquiry, Advika became extremely bored with the practice and began living her life very simply and without artifice, with an endless well of compassion for everyone around her, and with plenty of time to watch children at play.

As for negative effects: self-obsession, attachment to spiritual progress, and a breakdown of survival functions can occur if more constructive intentions are not cultivated from the beginning. Because of this, whenever any form of meditation is taught, I believe students should be encouraged to set this intention in their hearts and minds, and to try to feel it deeply in their bones, before each session: “May this be for the good of All.”

My 2 cents.

(see https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-goals-and-effects-of-self-inquiry-meditation-on-who-am-I)

Answering the question: "Is it wise to go ahead of the meditation programs of Headspace app?"

Thanks to Amir All for the A2A. I have tried such apps (including Headspace), along with other guided meditation, audio aids (shamanic drumming; audio entrainment, etc.), visual stimulators, biofeedback devices, etc. at different points in my practice over the years. My experience is that, in the very beginning of one’s practice, they can be helpful in the training and conditioning of mind for meditation…but later on (and actually fairly quickly IMO) they become a hinderance and can even become counterproductive. My understanding is that (beyond the initial free guided meditation) Headspace also encourages self-directed exercises in its programs, so that is a good thing I think. It is also my experience when teaching meditation that different people benefit from different techniques - and even the same person may benefit from different meditation techniques over time - so that relying on one technique, set of tools or practice may not be as productive or helpful over time.

As to your question about “going faster,” if you are just beginning that is rarely a good idea. IMO it is helpful to allow the results of meditation to percolate through your mind, heart and body, giving lots of space and time for different aspects of your being to process and integrate them. Patience (and letting go of expected results or outcomes) is an important part of meditative practice. Maintaining balance with other dimensions of our lives is also important. However, I would say that a regularity of at least once a day can be helpful - in fact just as with any self-care or training technique, a consistent and regular discipline is much more important than duration, frequency or speed of progress in my experience and observation.

One final thought is that I am not a big fan of the commercialistic, “consumer” model of meditation training. Which is why I offer most of my books as free downloads (including three that include meditation exercises), and why my audio entrainment CD (for introductory meditation training) is offered at the lowest price my retailers allow me to sell it. There are also many, many free smartphone apps and websites that offer useful meditation training tools, techniques and tips.

My 2 cents.

Answering the question: "What are the goals and effects of self inquiry meditation on who am I?"

Thanks for the A2A Pete. I had to laugh when I saw this…it’s a big question with a simple experiential answer: try it and you’ll see. So as to be less trite, however, I’ll offer a few nuggets to mull over:

- After seven years of self inquiry Jorge realized there was nothing there. Nothing at all. Self was annihilated and only emptiness filled the place it had once occupied.\

- After fifteen years of self inquiry Martha became God; that is, she recognized a complete absence of differentiation between her Self and the Divine. It was a very humbling experience.

- After a lifetime of self inquiry Wu Wei encountered a unitive substrate of being that consumed all independent and personal aspects of identity, so that all that remained was the Tao.

- After twenty-seven lifetimes of self-inquiry, Advika became extremely bored with the practice and began living her life very simply and without artifice, with an endless well of compassion for everyone around her, and with plenty of time to watch children at play.

As for negative effects: self-obsession, attachment to spiritual progress, and a breakdown of survival functions can occur if more constructive intentions are not cultivated from the beginning. Because of this, whenever any form of meditation is taught, I believe students should be encouraged to set this intention in their hearts and minds, and to try to feel it deeply in their bones, before each session: “May this be for the good of All.”

My 2 cents.