If you question, doubt, or wonder about extraordinary claims of meditators, yogis, and mystics but don’t know where to start, this page is for you.
Here we critically explore yoga, meditation, and mindfulness: what they are and are not, who peddles them, where they can lead to danger and waste time and energy. Here, no authority is beyond question, no claim is beyond scrutiny.
My aim is to share information with you about alternative interpretations of mystical experiences, and to warn of the psychological manipulations and physical dangers of some meditation-based ideas, organizations, and promoters.
Our aim is to be smarter and safer; to learn and to grow.
What to Expect
At Skeptic Meditations you find articles, critiques, and reviews examining the extraordinary claims of meditators, yogis, and mystics.
It has been my observation that devoted meditators often minimize the importance of reason and critical thinking, and implicitly or explicitly suggest that intellect is inferior (“egoic”) to feelings and intuitions. On the other side, many ardent skeptics may outright dismiss “spiritual” or “mystical” experiences as a hoax. At Skeptic Meditations we practice critical thinking and compassion to examine the potential benefits, side-effects, and dangers of meditation techniques, gurus and groups.
Where to Begin
You may want to begin by reading my About page for a brief introduction about my journey into a Hindu-inspired monastic order, my background in meditation practices, and why anyone should listen to me.
See the “Index to posts” organized by topic on the sidebar of each page.
Read the Blog for posts listed in reverse chronological order.
Visit Resources page for additional websites or blogs, books, movies, podcasts, and support groups you may find helpful when examining or coming out of meditation practices or groups.
What Skeptic Meditations Is Not
Let’s dispel with possible misconceptions and set realistic expectations before we go further.
Skeptic Meditations does not proselytize or promote any religion, spiritual teachers or texts. Raised Catholic and later ordained a monk for 14 years in a Hindu-inspired religion, I now am a non-theist, that is I see the pitfalls of reliance on gods or so-called “revealed” or “higher” authorities. I am skeptical, as you should be, of any and all religious, scientific, or philosophical systems of thought, broad theories, or grand narratives that try to explain everything.
Meditation is neither all bad nor all good. Meditation is a mixed bag. The techniques, practices, and philosophies embedded within the many worldviews that idealize “meditation” are sometimes harmful, sometimes beneficial.
“Ideas are dangerous and powerful things,” wrote Karl Popper. We humans give ideas their power and danger. In his essay, Sources of Knowledge and Ignorance, Popper describes our problem is the “theory of knowledge”. That our “theory of knowledge” is “closely linked with authoritarian and totalitarian ideas”.
Your personal experiences are interpreted through a lens that is authoritarian and totalitarian. So are mine. Our most basic way of living, as Martin Heidegger pointed out, is not as an “I” but as a “They”. What we think and feel we inherit from our family, society, traditions, and milieu (cultural era) of which we are the product. Meditation is also part of our “theories of knowledge” which are the product of our same milieu. Popper goes on, “In searching for the truth, it may be our best plan to start by criticizing our most cherished beliefs. This may seem to some a perverse plan. But it will not seem so to those who want to find the truth and are not afraid of it”. My hope is that you may ask questions that can be answered only by you.