I encourage you to look into the work of Willoughby Britton. She's reported on many people who have attended Western retreat centers and suffered adverse psychological reactions, and the teachers had no clue how to handle it.
not my terminology, has become commonly used in some of the discourse on the topic. do you find the language problematic because of its negative emotional valence or because you find it unclear or obfuscating in some way?
-
-
I explained that the problem is these "dark" experiences are not "awakening". They are just experiences.
-
in the literature these labels are applied to experiences that come after an awakening experience. you're right that they aren't awakening. they're after-effects that are experienced consistently by many meditators.
-
Perhaps these meditators weren't actually awake. Perhaps these experiences are merely evidence of a mind fraught with delusion. Who amongst us can honestly tell?
-
I don't view awake as a binary state. It's not a light switch. It's a path. Awakening events (plural) are sign posts on the path.
-
Or could they be signs of diving deeper into delusion? How can one tell the difference?
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.