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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (10851)	12/10/2010 11:32:42 AM
From: Giordano Bruno	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

The effects of meditation have been empirically measured and confirmed so yes, altered states are achievable for all. I think our difference is the matter of degree. “The mythmakers of earlier days were the counterparts of our artists.” In one of my favorite exchanges, Bill Moyers asks: “In these elementary cultures, as you call them, who would have been the equivalent of the poets today?” With barely a pause, Joseph Campbell responds: “The shamans. The shaman is the person, male or female, who in his late childhood or early youth has an overwhelming psychological experience that turns him totally inward. It’s a kind of schizophrenic crack-up. The whole unconscious opens up, and the shaman falls into it.” webcache.googleusercontent.com One item missing from that passage is not all survive the experience mentally. Some never return to their previous mental state and fall into self inflicted insanity. So, it's dangerous. Still, according to Campbell a virtual near death experience is required to achieve what Buddha as well as Campbell would refer to as enlightenment. I suppose you could say ' no pain no gain '. I'm not sure what that experience is like but it's description is as close as I can think of to full blown mania.