Page 168 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Mysteries of the Mind 149

Schacter, Daniel L. Searching for Memory—The Brain, Meditation. (FIELD MARK
the Mind, and the Past. New York: Basic Books, PUBLICATIONS)
1996.
Spanos, Nicholas P. Multiple Personalities and False Mem-
ories: A Sociocognitive Perspective. Washington,
D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1996.

Meditation
Meditation is generally defined as the act of
extended thought or contemplation/reflection
and is most often associated as being spiritual or
devotional in nature. Interest in Eastern reli-
gions from the 1960s through the 1980s
brought about a vast amount of scientific
research regarding the benefits of meditation,
which as a result has broadened its definition
into two main categories: mystical and secular.
Either type can include any of a variety of disci- nary” or the “splendor in the simple” and
plines of mind and body, and although the warns that such mystical, supernatural experi-
techniques and desired goals of meditation are ences as those listed above are irrelevant to
varied, the results are quite similar and include: the process of spiritual development and
achieving a higher state of consciousness, psy- should they occur, they should not be given
chic powers, self-discovery, self-improvement, any special attention at all, as the ultimate
stress reduction, reduced anxiety, spiritual goal is to achieve the state of nirvana, which
growth, better health, creativity, increased is defined as the complete release from all
intelligence, and union with the Creator or physical limitations of existence.
God. Meditation itself doesn’t directly provide
or guarantee these benefits but somehow is
believed to facilitate their cultivation.
Many have said there are only two ways to THE two main categories of meditation are
obtain a mystical state or altered state of con- mystical and secular.
sciousness and that is either through drugs or
meditation. Hoping to achieve that altered
state, there are those who take up meditation
as the safe means to the more spectacular psy- Although the founder of Buddhism, Sid-
chic experiences of visions, voices, out-of- dhartha Gautama (c. 563 B.C.E.–486 B.C.E.),
body experiences, and traveling to an astral himself found spiritual enlightenment while
realm and to have the mystical “high” without meditating under a bodhi tree, the Buddhist
inducing chemicals. approach to spiritual awakening does not only
consist of meditation but of three ways
Throughout time, mystics, saints, and believed to work together. Those ways are:
gurus have reported these expansive occur-
rences as commonplace amongst dedicated 1. Sila or Purification
and longtime meditators; however, most of 2. Samadhi or Concentration
them caution against entering meditation in 3. Punna or Insight
order to seek such incidents. Ancient texts Sila, or purification, is simply cleansing the
caution that whatever the mind meditates on, body, mind, spirit. Samadhi, or concentration,
it eventually takes the shape of or becomes involves fixing one’s mind or attention on a
the object habitually dwelled upon. single object that can be any object such as a

Zen Buddhism urges meditation practi- colored wheel, a candle, reflections on attrib-
tioners to see the “extraordinary in the ordi- utes of Buddha or the elements of nature, etc.

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