There’s two people I know in meatspace that have been doing this stuff for decades and to whom I look up for inspiration and guidence. They’re super humble since they have no need to prove anything.
I’ve never seen them express the slightest stress or mental tension. Zuiko of them is an old woman who’s hands hurt and are failing due to arthritis and she seemed more concerned with just listening to me than talking about her problems. In fact, she barely mentions her health issues unless I specifically ask. I have a friend who didn’t even realize she was highly awakened until after I pointed it out to him.
To paraphrase Nick Cammarata: “If you want to be a billionaire, try getting enlightened first and then check to see how much you still care about becoming a billionaire.” This awakening stuff tends to disassemble the status-seeking and ladder climbing motivational systems that cause people to get famous. I’m a more empathetic dancer due to meditation, but I doubt that’ll make me world famous.
I’ve never seen them express the slightest stress or mental tension. Zuiko of them is an old woman who’s hands hurt and are failing due to arthritis and she seemed more concerned with just listening to me than talking about her problems.
Sounds like a(nother) good example of the downsides of lacking pain/stress.
This feels like a major sticking point, though. If it does dissipate, then the fact that meditation has a profound effect on your values in a way you likely wouldn’t endorse in advance seems like something its promoters should be upfront about.
If it doesn’t dissipate, then we’re back to the conundrum that the various significant improvements ostensibly acquired through meditation don’t appear to translate into unusual efficiency at accomplishing real-world tasks. Money is the unit of caring, after all, so becoming a billionaire is instrumentally convergent even to somebody free of status-seeking and ladder climbing motivational systems. Or, alternatively, becoming a prominent scientist that cures cancer seems like the sort of thing that can cause people to get famous.
There’s two people I know in meatspace that have been doing this stuff for decades and to whom I look up for inspiration and guidence. They’re super humble since they have no need to prove anything.
I’ve never seen them express the slightest stress or mental tension. Zuiko of them is an old woman who’s hands hurt and are failing due to arthritis and she seemed more concerned with just listening to me than talking about her problems. In fact, she barely mentions her health issues unless I specifically ask. I have a friend who didn’t even realize she was highly awakened until after I pointed it out to him.
To paraphrase Nick Cammarata: “If you want to be a billionaire, try getting enlightened first and then check to see how much you still care about becoming a billionaire.” This awakening stuff tends to disassemble the status-seeking and ladder climbing motivational systems that cause people to get famous. I’m a more empathetic dancer due to meditation, but I doubt that’ll make me world famous.
Sounds like a(nother) good example of the downsides of lacking pain/stress.
Ok, but does the desire to do the greatest good for the greatest number also dissipate?
I haven’t asked.
This feels like a major sticking point, though. If it does dissipate, then the fact that meditation has a profound effect on your values in a way you likely wouldn’t endorse in advance seems like something its promoters should be upfront about.
If it doesn’t dissipate, then we’re back to the conundrum that the various significant improvements ostensibly acquired through meditation don’t appear to translate into unusual efficiency at accomplishing real-world tasks. Money is the unit of caring, after all, so becoming a billionaire is instrumentally convergent even to somebody free of status-seeking and ladder climbing motivational systems. Or, alternatively, becoming a prominent scientist that cures cancer seems like the sort of thing that can cause people to get famous.