Disclaimers. I am also an atheist. I took this exact meditation course 20+ years ago and know people who have followed it for decades. I am not so enthralled.<p>The meditation itself is fine. However the problem is in the tapes. Goenka is not just trying to teach people to meditate, he's trying to teach a particular religious philosophy. He doesn't want you to just be aware of your body, he wants you to pay attention to how things arise and pass away, and from that conclude that all attachment is bad because you will feel grief when it passes. This ties into Buddhist philosophy.<p>To me the problem with this philosophy can be summed up by, <i>'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.'</i> I was fascinated by the experience, but receiving indoctrination while I was in such a delicate state was not to my liking.
Very interesting. Incidentally, I do like:<p><i>Ninety percent of Maslow's pyramid has been taken care of for as long as I could remember, leaving me to arrogantly believe it's my responsibility to improve this world</i><p>-- that resembles a feeling that often brings me angst, but I always struggle to put into words.
I like to run once a week or so. It helps me shed a lot of stress, and is supposed to be good for me.<p>At first I hated it. But then I began bringing my iPhone and listen to music. I mostly listen to electronic dance music, but there was a specific genre that I found worked well for runnig; Trance.<p>There is one "song" that illustrates this very well. It is 9.5 minutes of very monotonous, slowly building "umm-tss". <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yOJsjyq_GsE#t=26s" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...</a><p>There is a reason for that name. I found that this music, in combination with the deep breathing in coordination with my steps sort of lets me enter a state of trance. I can empty my mind and just <i>be</i>. Stress over deadlines and finances - and even stress over being stressed - pretty much are gone when I get back home.
Sensory deprivation is known to cause hallucinations, often within a matter of minutes. People are primed to believe that sensory deprivation in the form of meditation provides profound insights, so they do. If you force a prisoner to sit still for several hours in a silent room as punishment, they perceive it to be a dreadful torture.<p>It's mystical nonsense. "I did a thing that made me feel better" is a perfectly legitimate statement. "I did a thing and believe it to be deeply profound and meaningful in ways I cannot articulate" really isn't the sort of thing we usually countenance on HN, because it's a line of thinking that we recognise to be dangerous.<p>For various cultural reasons, mainly ignorance, rationalists are unusually tolerant of Buddhist nonsense, often believing it to be essentially benign. If you know anything of the history of south-east Asia, you will know how foolish that error is. I rather doubt that a post extolling the virtues of Islamic or Christian monasticism with such breathless naivete would have garnered so many upvotes.
Meditation is one of the things that most people should do, it enlightens you as to your faults, bringing them to light so that you may change yourself for the better. It's also nothing to do with making you superior to other people(if it is you have other issues that won't work themselves out until you learn some empathy.)
For those of you looking for a place to go on a similar 10 day retreat, there is:<p>Northwest Vipassana Center (PNW Region, I've heard really good things about this one from friends who have done the program)
<a href="http://www.kunja.dhamma.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.kunja.dhamma.org/</a><p>Dhamma Manda (Near SF)
<a href="http://www.manda.dhamma.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.manda.dhamma.org/</a><p>The closest one to NYC I can find is in Mass:
<a href="http://www.dhara.dhamma.org/ns/" rel="nofollow">http://www.dhara.dhamma.org/ns/</a><p>For more info on locations near you:<p><a href="http://courses.dhamma.org/en/maps/001" rel="nofollow">http://courses.dhamma.org/en/maps/001</a>
I hate to be "that guy", but clicking your timer more than once seems to be cutting the intervals down each time (ex: click it 10 times, and it goes crazy fast).<p>I only say this because I love that you actually went ahead and embedded a timer in your post -- knowing that the process of reading and absorbing the content was just as important, if not more important, than the content itself.<p>Regardless, great post.
Thanks for sharing this amazing experience. I have been wanting to do this same very course myself.<p>Even today evening I was thinking of just this.<p>Your experience has inspired me even more. I believe i must stop thinking and just plan go at the next best available free time.
Basic brain washing routine. You want a religion. Just pick one. Stop trying to convince yourself you're rational. You're a human being: you're not rational. Irritating post. Why the hell did I read this?
Self contradictory title. Once again we're mixing up chemical imbalances (however induced) with this notion of a Creator. If there really is this God thing, then do you really think they give a damn about you sitting on hot rocks? If you do, then you've really missed the point of it all. If you don't then you'll quickly realize you're just wasting your time, the most precious resource you have.
So you sat on some stones under extreme physical duress. Congratulations. Your puny mammalian brain acted in a manner dysfunctional from its normal operating environment. Now you can go to parties and feel even more superior to your friends. They won't get it of course because there's no way for you to accurately explain it to them.