I think there are many possible alternative explanations, some more likely than others:
* Jhana is a state that most people can reach after a few months of training, and it's a state of no-strings-attached perfect bliss. The reason every human on Earth is not immersed in Jhana right now is, uh, reasons.
* Some rare individuals possess an inborn ability to enter jhana after a period of training -- similarly to how some people can run extremely fast or factor large numbers in their heads or whatever. For those people, jhana training unlocks their true potential. For the rest of us, it does nothing.
* Meditation can indeed lead to a reasonably pleasurable state, as can many other pursuits. However, meditation is currently all the rage in the zeitgeist, and thus all those who enter this pleasurable state tend to exaggerate when reporting it, consciously or unconsciously.
* The world is full of people who want to trick you into believing false things, either for money or for the lulz. Many gullible people go along with these tricksters willingly.
* Some combination of the above, or some additional unknown factor not listed here.
The smart thing to do would be to devise a test that could help us distinguish among these hypotheses (and to devise new ones), and to do so with better rigor than relying on self-reports from a self-selected group of people. The comfortable and arguably more pleasurable thing to do is to endorse the fist explanation that makes you feel good. I suppose choosing the correct approach here is a kind of Zen.
I think there are many possible alternative explanations, some more likely than others:
* Jhana is a state that most people can reach after a few months of training, and it's a state of no-strings-attached perfect bliss. The reason every human on Earth is not immersed in Jhana right now is, uh, reasons.
* Some rare individuals possess an inborn ability to enter jhana after a period of training -- similarly to how some people can run extremely fast or factor large numbers in their heads or whatever. For those people, jhana training unlocks their true potential. For the rest of us, it does nothing.
* Meditation can indeed lead to a reasonably pleasurable state, as can many other pursuits. However, meditation is currently all the rage in the zeitgeist, and thus all those who enter this pleasurable state tend to exaggerate when reporting it, consciously or unconsciously.
* The world is full of people who want to trick you into believing false things, either for money or for the lulz. Many gullible people go along with these tricksters willingly.
* Some combination of the above, or some additional unknown factor not listed here.
The smart thing to do would be to devise a test that could help us distinguish among these hypotheses (and to devise new ones), and to do so with better rigor than relying on self-reports from a self-selected group of people. The comfortable and arguably more pleasurable thing to do is to endorse the fist explanation that makes you feel good. I suppose choosing the correct approach here is a kind of Zen.