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\documentclass[a4paper, amsfonts, amssymb, amsmath, reprint, showkeys, nofootinbib, twoside]{revtex4-1} | |
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\begin{document} | |
\title{% | |
\large{Vipassana for Hackers} \\ | |
\Huge{Paper Three: Why Meditate?} \\ | |
\large\textit{Version 0.1} | |
} | |
\author{Steven Deobald} | |
\email[Correspondence email address: ]{steven@deobald.ca} | |
\affiliation{www.vipassana-for-hackers.org} | |
\date{\today} | |
\begin{abstract} | |
Meditation requires a time commitment. Like other activities we consider | |
worthy of our time for their benefits to our health, such as sufficient sleep, exercise, fresh air, and a | |
healthy diet, it is often the (rational) first step of individuals considering a | |
meditation practice to ask: Why should I bother? What are the outcomes of | |
meditation? And do the benefits of those outcomes outweigh the time meditation | |
costs the practitioner? This paper answers those questions as they pertain to | |
meditation in general, and to Vipassana, specifically. | |
\end{abstract} | |
\keywords{neuroplasticity} | |
\maketitle | |
\section{Target Audience} | |
\textit{Vipassana for Hackers, Paper One: Curious Mechanics} was written with the | |
explicit intention of avoiding a discussion about the specific | |
outcomes or consequences of meditation in detail. That paper was intentionally, | |
though artificially, restricted to | |
the internal mechanics of Vipassana meditation, to pique the interest of potential | |
meditators who had heard of Vipassana elsewhere. Outcomes are discussed only so far | |
as they assist the reader in understanding what is written earlier in the paper | |
regarding human sensory experience. \textit{Paper Two: The Brain} goes further into the internal | |
mechanics as they pertain to the | |
hub of the nervous system. In the second paper, outcomes are discussed as they pertain to | |
neuroplasticity. Neither paper directly discusses why an individual might choose to | |
try this particular technique of meditation. | |
As before, the ``Hacker'' of \textit{Vipassana for Hackers} is not meant to identify | |
computer programmers. Instead, it is meant as a label for a culture of curious and | |
creative people who enjoy exploring, learning, and creating. Librarians, scientists, | |
musicians, architects, medical practitioners, carpenters, artists, lovers of books, | |
mechanics, journalists, academics, | |
hobbyists of all stripes --- all ``hackers'', of a sort. If you think you belong | |
here, you do. | |
\textit{Paper Three: Why Meditate?} is written for anyone who has ever asked | |
themselves that very question or asked this question of a friend who | |
meditates. It is for both those who are curious about the practice of Vipassana | |
specifically and those who are curious about meditation in general. It is for people | |
who have meditated in other traditions and are curious about the benefits of | |
Vipassana. It is also for people who have never meditated in their entire lives. It | |
is intended for anyone who keeps hearing about Vipassana meditation --- in the media, | |
in books, and from friends --- and wants to learn what all the fuss is about. | |
The reader need not have read \textit{Paper One} or \textit{Paper Two}. In fact, it | |
is the intention of this paper to be the most accessible of the series. Readers | |
with only a faint interest in the topic of meditation should start here. | |
\section{The Mundane vs. The Supramundane} | |
There are two fields of human experience and the following analysis of the value | |
provided by different meditation techniques will break down all points into these two | |
categories. \textit{The Mundane} | |
in this context refers not to the tedious but to the earthly, the material. Most people will begin | |
meditating for reasons in the mundane field simply because most people have never | |
experienced the supramundane field. \textit{The Supramundane} in this context refers not to | |
spirituality or religion but experiences which transcend the material, physical | |
world. Put another way, mundane experiences are those which can be | |
described. Supramundane experiences, due to their very nature of transcending the | |
material world, are ineffable. Just because an experience is ineffable, however, does | |
not mean conversation cannot exist around it. An experience of dimethyltryptamine | |
(DMT) may be ineffable but it is almost a guarantee that someone using this drug will | |
talk about it afterward. In this way, we will discuss the consequences of | |
supramundane experiences (and their value) toward the end of this paper. | |
Because supramundane experiences tend to occur only in deep meditative states, | |
the reasons for meditating listed will predominantly fall in the mundane | |
category. Whether or not the meditator experiences supramundane states in deep | |
meditation, these altered states of mind are never the goal of meditation. The goal | |
of meditation is to change the meditator's mental habits. The intention is to move away from unhealthy | |
mental patterns --- those which cause harmful behaviours --- toward healthy mental patterns which | |
encourage productive behaviour. Obviously this change is only visible in the mundane | |
world, outside of meditation. | |
In \textit{Paper One: Curious Mechanics}, two sample spectrums of meditations were | |
listed. One included activities which were simply meditative, rather than anything | |
which could be considered a formal meditation practice. These included sports, | |
playing a musical instrument, or yogic practices such as asanas and pranayams. We | |
will ignore such activities here. The following plane attempts to roughly locate | |
meditation practices between focus and insight on two axes, rather than one. | |
\begin{figure}[H] | |
\centering | |
\includegraphics[width=5cm]{images/focus-insight-plane.png} | |
\caption{Meditation Quadrants} | |
\label{fig:meditation-quadrants} | |
\end{figure} | |
The locations of different meditation practices on the graph are only for | |
illustrative purposes. There are many other axes available such as a practitioner's | |
experience level, intensity of practice, and an individual's physiology and mental | |
health. However, this plane helps ground a comparison of different meditation | |
techniques for the rest of the paper. The three mindfulness meditation categories are | |
Focused Attention Meditation (FAM), Open Monitoring Meditation (OMM), and | |
Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM). These will be explained as mindfulness meditations | |
come up in discussion later. | |
Returning to the topic of the supramundane, the following spectrum illustrates where | |
each of these practices approximately falls, across that dichotomy. | |
\begin{figure}[H] | |
\centering | |
\includegraphics[width=5cm]{images/mundane-supramundane-plane.png} | |
\caption{Mundane vs. Supramundane Meditations} | |
\label{fig:mundane-vs-supramundane} | |
\end{figure} | |
Meditations within the mundane sphere are easier to understand and easier to | |
teach. As a consequence, they are easier to submit to rigorous scientific | |
study. Where the broad categories of FAM, OMM, and LKM have been studied | |
scientifically, we will observer respective parallels in Anapana, Vipassana, and | |
Metta meditations. | |
\section{The Mundane Sphere of Experience} | |
\subsection{Sleep} | |
Why do we have difficulty sleeping? If one imagines a sleepless night of one's past, | |
it often followed an anxiety-inducing event or preceded a stressful event. When we | |
fight with a family member or have a difficult day at work, we become anxious and | |
sometimes cannot escape from replaying that event over and over in our mind's | |
eye in exchange for sleep. When the next day brings a final exam or a job interview, | |
we repeatedly imagine the future and its outcomes while we lie awake in bed. Whether | |
we are anxious about the past or the future, it seems that anxiety has a great deal | |
to do with our inability to sleep. Sometimes this anxiety is apparently disconnected | |
from our lives entirely. We may ruminate about anything: long-past childhood | |
experiences, politics, global warming, human suffering at scales completely | |
unmanageable through any actions of our own. Anxiety is anxiety. | |
\todo{more anxiety/sleep references} | |
And, as it turns out, anxiety has a lot to do with our inability to | |
sleep. When we are anxious we can't sleep. \cite{mellman2006, staner2003} | |
But this relationship is dangerously recursive: when we can't sleep we become | |
anxious. This effect occurs both at the narrow and personally-observable level, within a single | |
night of poor sleep. But it also occurs on a lifelong scale and there is mounting | |
evidence that sleep deprivation in childhood and adulthood has a causal relationship | |
with chronic anxiety. \cite{gregory2005, willis2015} | |
Meditation objectively improves sleep across a number of meditation techniques. | |
\cite{nagendra2012} Black et al. found in a 2015 study that this | |
improvement is is not simply over the baseline, however, but also an improvement | |
above and beyond what can be achieved through Sleep | |
Hygiene Education (SHE). \cite{black2015} The difficulty with this statement, of | |
course, is defining the term ``meditation''. In this particular study, the meditation | |
in question is \textit{Mindfulness}, as taught in the UCLA Mindfulness | |
Course. \cite{uclamaps} Mindfulness is a very accessible form of meditation, varying | |
in format according to the instructor. It usually involves multiple techniques, | |
including \textit{Open Monitoring}, which is characterized by | |
openness to whatever is happening in the present moment in a variety of postures | |
(sitting, standing, walking, eating, etc.); \textit{Focused Attention}, which is | |
usually a narrow breath awareness meditation; and \textit{Loving-Kindness}, in which | |
meditators actively direct compassion to themselvse and others. All three of these | |
practices mirror the three meditation practices taught in Vipassana. However, in Vipassana, Open | |
Monitoring finds its parallel in objective observation of sensation internal to the | |
body, as we will see later. | |
\subsection{Meditation vs. Naps} | |
While staying at a friend's house, I excused myself in the evening to meditate. He | |
sincerely asked, ``Is meditating for an hour really more valuable than using that | |
time for a good nap?'' | |
The purpose of various forms of meditation should be understood clearly, as the | |
intention of techniques can vary wildly from one to the next. Where the purpose of | |
meditation is simply to relax, it is difficult to say that meditation is more | |
valuable than a nap. Especially for our chronically sleep-deprived society, it's | |
unlikely their effects would differ much. | |
However, most meditation techniques are not intended to relax the meditator. Whatever | |
the object of a meditation technique (one of the five sense doors, bodily sensation, | |
or objects of mind) the very act of meditation is one of | |
\todo{look through leather notebook} | |
\begin{itemize} | |
\item posture | |
\item sleep | |
\item digestion (``Make sure to pay attention to your poops!'' first course) | |
\item diet | |
\item schedule | |
\item health (activation / motivation) | |
\item ethics (activation / motivation) | |
\item your children: a. knowing how to meditate, b. cross-legged posture | |
\item emotion (i.e. anger) | |
\item gratitute (gratitude vs. fear; julie) - https://youtu.be/WPPPFqsECz0 | |
\item dealing with death | |
\item mundane sphere / productivity (21 lessons, seinfeld) | |
\item unlearning obsessive / repetitive thought, enhancing creativity | |
\item controlling unbounded sexuality without repression (louis c.k. joke?) | |
\item clarity: in thought, work, planning | |
\item federated, p2p, distributed systems like blockchain / holochain attempt to circumvent | |
structures of oppression and control -- what if corporations could be rebuilt from inside, | |
one employee/stakeholder at a time such that ethics were inherent to the company's very | |
existence? | |
\item Die Standing Up | |
\item \url{https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/10/18/1909959116} | |
\end{itemize} | |
\section{Why Vipassana?} | |
Material notes: free course, code of ethics, 10 days, etc. | |
\subsection{Vipassana Basics} | |
Before we get to a discussion about why meditation is valuable, some basic | |
understanding of what meditation is (and isn't) is required. | |
The technique of Vipassana is based on a single underlying principle: | |
\vspace{1cm} | |
\textbf{Every experience which emerges in the mind, whether a thought, emotion, or | |
contact of the five senses, always surfaces with a corresponding sensation in or on the body.} | |
\vspace{1cm} | |
\cite{hauke2018} | |
\textbf{vedana-samosarana sabbe dhamma. ``Everything | |
that arises in the mind starts flowing with a sensation | |
on the body.''} \cite{goenka1999discourses} | |
It is important to understand this point as it underpins all other aspects of the | |
technique of Vipassana. Someone who is learning Vipassana need not accept this | |
principle as fact. Rather, a 10-day Vipassana course is a sort of laboratory where the | |
principle can be tested and experienced for oneself. | |
\begin{figure}[H] | |
\centering | |
\includegraphics[width=0.8\linewidth]{images/sense-doors.png} | |
\caption{The sense doors and bodily sensation. \cite{sense-icons}} | |
\label{fig:sense-doors} | |
\end{figure} | |
The totality of human experience can be categorized according to the ``sense doors'' | |
listed in Figure~\ref{fig:sense-doors}: The five external sense doors of sight, sound, | |
taste, smell, and touch are listed at the top. The internal sense door of ``mind'' is | |
broken down into thought and emotion, second to the bottom. At the very bottom of the | |
diagram is bodily sensation, the object of meditation in Vipassana. | |
Once these eight experiences are listed, there is no experience left undescribed. All | |
human experience from the mundane (imagination, daydreaming, physical pleasures, | |
physical discomforts, etc.) to the supramundane (out-of-body experiences, | |
hallucinations, pronounced perceptual time dilation, etc.) are subsets of these seven | |
sense doors and their reflection in bodily sensation, the eighth. | |
This concept, that sensory input is ``reflected'' in internal bodily sensation, | |
Mapping all of sensory experience to these eight categories begs the question of | |
attention, of awareness: Where does the meditator try to fasten her awareness? Where | |
is awareness normally? For the average person, awareness jumps around across these | |
eight categories. Even when one tries to focus on a difficult intellectual problem, | |
the discomforts of back pain and hunger or the distraction of an irritating sound | |
would draw attention away from thought, the desired object of attention. Vipassana | |
meditation asks the meditator to use bodily sensation as a gateway to the other seven | |
sense experiences. Rather than focusing on sound, focus on the sensation generated in | |
the body by the ear sense door. Rather than focusing on a thought or emotion, focus | |
on the sensation in the body generated by that thought or emotion. This is extremely | |
difficult to do, which is why (for lay people, in most cases) a 10-day silent | |
residential course \cite{dhamma} is necessary to learn the technique. | |
\section{The Supramundane Sphere of Experience} | |
\begin{itemize} | |
\item reset frame of reference outside oneself, outside one's own lifetime: ``trees | |
for god'' and obvious karma (sidu/booga smoking) | |
\item Time: Nat Friedman's blog post? | |
\item Is it really possible? https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1260698271422570497 | |
The “speed of thought” (neuron conduction speed) is only 110m/s, which isn’t that fast. 9 ms of latency just in your arm! | |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeHoU-arXgY | |
\item bible; ``a perfect set of rules''; nature itself <=> perception; ``perfect | |
perception (vision)''; inner perception (sensation mirror) --- harris v. peterson | |
\item clarification: ``isn't that what makes us human?'' (emotions) --- rather, | |
what makes us animal | |
\item ``How to Change Your Mind'' --- ego dissolution --- specific advantages? | |
\item seeing oneself as aggregate and the path from singular => aggregate | |
(neuroscience behind hemispheres) | |
\end{itemize} | |
\section*{Acknowledgements} | |
Thank you to Preethi Govindarajan for reviewing this paper. | |
\section*{References} | |
\begin{thebibliography}{99} | |
\bibitem{sense-icons} | |
5 Senses by Daniel Falk from the Noun Project | |
\url{https://thenounproject.com/daniel2021/collection/human-body-senses/} | |
Thought by Nociconist from the Noun Project | |
\url{https://thenounproject.com/search/?q=thought&i=2025873} | |
Heart by Rafael Garcia Motta from the Noun Project | |
\url{https://thenounproject.com/search/?q=heart&i=807960} | |
Body by Makarenko Andrey from the Noun Project | |
\url{https://thenounproject.com/search/?q=body&i=789989} | |
\textit{The Noun Project}. | |
\bibitem{mellman2006} | |
Mellman, Thomas A. | |
\textit{Sleep and Anxiety Disorders.} | |
Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Volume 29, Issue 4, Pages 1047-1058, December 2006. | |
\url{https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2006.08.005} | |
\bibitem{staner2003} | |
Staner, L. | |
\textit{Sleep and anxiety disorders.} | |
Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, Volume 5(3), Pages 249–258, September 2003. | |
PMID: 22033804; PMCID: PMC3181635. | |
\bibitem{gregory2005} | |
Gregory, A.M., Caspi, A., Eley, T.C. et al. | |
\textit{Prospective Longitudinal Associations Between Persistent Sleep Problems in | |
Childhood and Anxiety and Depression Disorders in Adulthood} | |
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Volume 33, Issue 2, pp 157–163, April 2005. | |
\url{https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-005-1824-0} | |
\bibitem{willis2015} | |
Willis, T.A., Gregory, A.M. | |
\textit{Anxiety Disorders and Sleep in Children and Adolescents.} | |
Sleep Medicine Clinics, Volume 10, Issue 2, Pages 125-131, June 2015. | |
\url{https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsmc.2015.02.002} | |
\bibitem{hauke2018} | |
Hauke G., Kritikos A. | |
\textit{Building a Body of Evidence: From Sensation to Emotion and Psychotherapy.} | |
Embodiment in Psychotherapy. Springer, Cham. | |
ISBN: 978-3-319-92888-3. December 2018. | |
\url{https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92889-0_1} | |
\bibitem{goenka1999discourses} | |
Discourses on satipatthana sutta | |
% @article{goenka1999discourses, | |
% title={Discourses on satipatthana sutta}, | |
% author={Goenka, Satya Narayan}, | |
% journal={Igatpuri, Maharashtra, India: Vipassana Research Institute}, | |
% year={1999} | |
%} | |
\bibitem{nagendra2012} | |
Nagendra R.P., Maruthai N., Kutty B.M. | |
\textit{Meditation and its regulatory role on sleep.} | |
Frontiers in Neurology, 3:54, April 2012. | |
\url{https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2012.00054} | |
\bibitem{maruthai2016senior} | |
Maruthai N., Nagendra R.P., Sasidharan A., Srikumar S., Datta K., Uchida S., Kutty B.M. | |
\textit{Senior Vipassana Meditation practitioners exhibit distinct REM sleep | |
organization from that of novice meditators and healthy controls.} | |
International Review of Psychiatry, Volume 28(3), Pages 279-287, April 2016. | |
\url{https://doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2016.1159949} | |
\bibitem{black2015} | |
Black D.S., O’Reilly G.A., Olmstead R., Breen E.C., Irwin M.R. | |
\textit{Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment | |
Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances: A Randomized Clinical Trial.} | |
JAMA Internal Medicine, Volume 175(4), Pages 494–501, 2015. | |
\bibitem{uclamaps} | |
Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs) Classes | |
\url{https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/maps-classes} | |
\bibitem{dhamma} | |
Vipassana International Academy | |
\url{https://www.dhamma.org} | |
\textit{Vipassana Meditation Website} | |
\end{thebibliography} | |
\end{document} |