I am not sure how this will be received by others. I don't want to experience a cessation of ideas and thoughts. Being able to quell my brain activity so that no thoughts or ideas remain is the opposite of enlightenment to me. I am proud that I am an intellectual, self-aware being. It separates me from the rest of the organisms in Nature. So why would I want to turn it all off?
This is only vaguely scientific and that only in the beginning of the article. It then progressively reads more like some excited, clueless retelling of other people's psychotic-like experiences. I can't even begin to understand the parallel to set theory mentioned in the piece.
Enlightenment is beyond words. It's not to be intellectualized. So I believe science will never truly understand enlightenment, because science is intellectualization. Besides there are several grades of enlightenment, don't think you meditate a few years and you get it.<p>As for meditation, although it is the best path for enlightenment, turns out there's alot of benefits for common people. When you bring your thoughts to a halt, your true mind manifests. The true mind is unimpeded - it is effortless - and this true mind allows you to solve your daily problems more easily. You shut off your "stupid" brain, and the true wisdom starts to manifest. You won't become a zombie; you will <i>naturally</i> discard your stupid habits and become better focused at whatever is that you do.<p>What this means is that throughout the day we are able to gain a better understanding of ourselves and our environment; we will become gradually less scattered (due to the meditation process) and we will focus on what is important to us, wheter its programming or science or anything else. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but I think it's a good basic description.
My family knows Har-Prakash Khalsa well, and while this work appears to rely heavily on anecdotal descriptions of this condition called 'cessation', his photographic work that he develops in tandem to his meditation practice is pretty impressive. I'm not sure if that ads anything to the discussion, but the pictures are nice to look at.<p><a href="http://art.harprakashkhalsa.com/exhibitions/true-nature.php" rel="nofollow">http://art.harprakashkhalsa.com/exhibitions/true-nature.php</a><p>If people are interested in his meditation practice, he has some youtube videos up.<p>Steps to meditation
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAUR0DNDnj8" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAUR0DNDnj8</a><p>Nature of the intellect
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPrm7YaaU1Y" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPrm7YaaU1Y</a>