Meditation & Beyond

Many people have reported achieving various sorts of profound insights through meditation practice.

Some say it has allowed them to escape human reality altogether, and enter into other dimensions of being, or to become enlightened and escape the very realm of "being".

I think this is great ... but it's also interesting to look at meditation from a physical-reality-centered perspective. In this view, meditation is a mind-state associated with a certain human-brain-state. It may have certain profound advantages relative to the "ordinary waking consciousness" and other mind-states that humans more commonly occupy. But nonetheless it is tied, in a way, to the human brain.

My suspicion is that, as human brains are enhanced and expanded, yet more amazing and insightful forms of experience will be found.

Meditation is largely about having the flow of thoughts, feelings and habits stop. It takes most humans great practice to achieve this. On the other hand, appropriately designed cognitive systems could potentially achieve this instantaneously, merely by "flicking an internal switch."

It's interesting to think that AI's -- or neuromodified humans -- could switch back and forth between meditation and practical, highly task-focused consciousness "at will." Or they could have one portion of their brain meditate while the other portion carries out various other activities ... etc.