I can attain to various jhanas and have talked with hundreds if not thousands of people who can also, have lost track at this point, as 25+ years of those conversations.
Yes, jhanas are a thing.
Yes, I totally get why people don't believe this, as I also didn't believe in lots of things that I hadn't experienced until I had experienced them, so validating that skepticism as being normal and natural. I realize that smacks a bit of paradigmatic developmentalism, and, yeah, it basically is, and we need to find ways to deal with that also, as it is weird to be on the side of the fence that is labeled as less developed, and weird to be on the side of the fence that might be thought of as more developed, as comparison creates internal judgement and weird social dynamics, and we need to work to help deal with the social awkwardness of that as well, such that people apply more mature psychological coping mechanisms across those splits rather than the immature ones (denial, splitting, dismissal/devaluing, etc.). This is a huge topic for all of these sorts of experiences and abilities.
Yes, there is a wide range of what appears to be intrinsic ability to cultivate jhanas, with some getting into them easily/spontaneously with little effort, and some trying for years without that much effect, and everything in between. The tails are long on both the low and high ends. The range is so wide and striking that I think there has to be some genetic/receptor/something-like-that component to it, and have discussed how to study this with someone who does genetics at Johns Hopkins, so, if anyone wants to help fund that, let me know, as it won't be cheap, but could be quite profound in its implications.
Yes, there is real research on jhanas, such as the Brasington paper above, and hopefully soon research I have been involved in at Harvard/McLean/Martinos doing jhanas in EEG and fMRI with a number of other accomplished practitioners. I can't talk about the results of that yet beyond the fact that you can see real, reproducible changes in measurements when one shifts through the jhanas. Stay tuned, as that study is still in progress, and could benefit from more funding for data analysis, so let me know if you can help fund that. Apologies for the shameless plug here, but hopefully this is a group that appreciates science.
Yes, there are risks to attempting this, as one may easily drift into insight stages, which have their highs, lows, and weirds to them in a predictable pattern, though these can also, ultimately, lead to lasting and beneficial upgrades to conscious experience.
Yes, jhanas can be mind-bogglingly awesome, and, yes, they are weirdly non-habit forming, sort of, though there are people that, from an insight point of view, keep cultivating them rather than move on to what are called stages of awakening and other names, as, once the mind finds those tracks, it gets easier and easier to just have the mind go down them when one sits down on the cushion, lays down, or inclines to them in some other conducive situation.
Yes, they can producing losing psychological benefits, though, as mentioned above, the path to get to them can also bring up a lot of psychological stuff.
Yes, they can also produce some very weird experiences often referred to as "the powers", which, regardless of their "validity" from some external point of view, experientially can be quite potent and compelling, amazing and destabilizing, healing and traumatic. That is a large and complex topic. Why they produce powers experiences in some and not in others is not well understood. This is part of the risks and benefits that it would be good to have reliable numbers on so people can go in fully informed of the possibilities.
Regarding all of the above funding requests: these are all for other talented academic researchers, not a cent for me, just FYI.
Thanks, Scott, for addressing this topic, as its mental health implications could be huge if better appreciated by the clinical, scientific, and mental health mainstreams.
I can attain to various jhanas and have talked with hundreds if not thousands of people who can also, have lost track at this point, as 25+ years of those conversations.
Yes, jhanas are a thing.
Yes, I totally get why people don't believe this, as I also didn't believe in lots of things that I hadn't experienced until I had experienced them, so validating that skepticism as being normal and natural. I realize that smacks a bit of paradigmatic developmentalism, and, yeah, it basically is, and we need to find ways to deal with that also, as it is weird to be on the side of the fence that is labeled as less developed, and weird to be on the side of the fence that might be thought of as more developed, as comparison creates internal judgement and weird social dynamics, and we need to work to help deal with the social awkwardness of that as well, such that people apply more mature psychological coping mechanisms across those splits rather than the immature ones (denial, splitting, dismissal/devaluing, etc.). This is a huge topic for all of these sorts of experiences and abilities.
Yes, there is a wide range of what appears to be intrinsic ability to cultivate jhanas, with some getting into them easily/spontaneously with little effort, and some trying for years without that much effect, and everything in between. The tails are long on both the low and high ends. The range is so wide and striking that I think there has to be some genetic/receptor/something-like-that component to it, and have discussed how to study this with someone who does genetics at Johns Hopkins, so, if anyone wants to help fund that, let me know, as it won't be cheap, but could be quite profound in its implications.
Yes, there is real research on jhanas, such as the Brasington paper above, and hopefully soon research I have been involved in at Harvard/McLean/Martinos doing jhanas in EEG and fMRI with a number of other accomplished practitioners. I can't talk about the results of that yet beyond the fact that you can see real, reproducible changes in measurements when one shifts through the jhanas. Stay tuned, as that study is still in progress, and could benefit from more funding for data analysis, so let me know if you can help fund that. Apologies for the shameless plug here, but hopefully this is a group that appreciates science.
Yes, there are risks to attempting this, as one may easily drift into insight stages, which have their highs, lows, and weirds to them in a predictable pattern, though these can also, ultimately, lead to lasting and beneficial upgrades to conscious experience.
Yes, there is more research being done on all of these topics by the group I work with called the Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium https://theeprc.org/, so please help with that if you are interested. We have specific studies ready to go on the jhanas here that just need funding: https://hypernotes.zenkit.com/i/UFIY1UO1cp/I7uiRSF2S/fund-me?v=M6pP_Tb7W6
Yes, jhanas can be mind-bogglingly awesome, and, yes, they are weirdly non-habit forming, sort of, though there are people that, from an insight point of view, keep cultivating them rather than move on to what are called stages of awakening and other names, as, once the mind finds those tracks, it gets easier and easier to just have the mind go down them when one sits down on the cushion, lays down, or inclines to them in some other conducive situation.
Yes, they can producing losing psychological benefits, though, as mentioned above, the path to get to them can also bring up a lot of psychological stuff.
Yes, they can also produce some very weird experiences often referred to as "the powers", which, regardless of their "validity" from some external point of view, experientially can be quite potent and compelling, amazing and destabilizing, healing and traumatic. That is a large and complex topic. Why they produce powers experiences in some and not in others is not well understood. This is part of the risks and benefits that it would be good to have reliable numbers on so people can go in fully informed of the possibilities.
Regarding all of the above funding requests: these are all for other talented academic researchers, not a cent for me, just FYI.
Thanks, Scott, for addressing this topic, as its mental health implications could be huge if better appreciated by the clinical, scientific, and mental health mainstreams.