Sex, Drugs and.......Meditation!

The research is indisputable and there is no denying the beneficial effects of meditation upon the body and mind. It lowers heart rate and cholesterol, normalizes blood sugar, strengthens the immune system, improves sleep, etc, etc, etc, on and on and on (Sedona Meditation Research).

If this is all we expect than there shouldn't be any problem. But oh, how we love to stimulate our brain chemicals! Some people live for it (and, as I remember, not much else).

Drug addiction is a misnomer. The addiction is to neurochemicals stimulated through the potentiating effects from introducing a synthetic chemical to the natural mix, creating a lovely neurochemical cocktail.

Nobody’s really addicted to sex, but to the end product of sexual activity (orgasm) which is nothing more than the hyper-stimulation of neurochemicals, i.e., serotonin, dopamine, melatonin, and the opiate receptors of the brain.

It seems there is always a reward that drives us ever onward and for some, that goal is nothing more than neurochemical stimulation.

In fact, some have made that neuro-stimulation a “sacred" reward.

The wonders of science has accurately identified the stimulation of brain chemicals through meditation (Spiritual Competency.com). It is now scientifically established that if you sit in seclusion for long enough, eventually you can be certain that some degree of neurochemical stimulation will occur.

In fact, just like heroin or LSD (been there done that) can cause one to sink into an effortless reverie of pure bliss or synethesia (hearing colors, seeing sounds), meditation is equally effective (just takes a bit longer) at stimulating the pleasure centers of the brain and providing the same neuro-stimulation without the dangers and illegalities of heroin or LSD.

In fact, it seems reasonable to expect that the longer and more disciplined your meditative efforts, the more intense might be your neurochemical stimulation (the Big Buzz!). Therefore, you can essentially train yourself to get 'high.'

However, this appears to pose a problem, since the more intense your brain chemical stimulation the more likely the ego will superimpose some grandiose “sanctified” interpretation (extracted from past religious/spiritual ideologies) upon the neurochemical experience. This inadvertently results in the desire to interpret these intoxicating whiz-bang neuro-stimulative encounters as episodes of spiritual “enlightenment” or “awakening,” “revelation,” “nirvana,” etc, etc, etc.

Unfortunately, the ancient wisdom traditions could not benefit from modern medical science and knew nothing of neurochemical imbalances. However, today when we read about the excesses of the modern gurus, the sexual indiscretions, the greed, corruption (and frequent need for lawyers) we can be confidant that it’s nothing more than clinical bipolar disorder or significant neurochemical imbalances resulting in mood disorders.

If you want your mood-altering neurochemical states to be ‘sacred’ than by all means, call it an “awakening” or even "enlightenment."

However, most likely God will refuse to meet with you until you get off the neurochemicals.

Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,

A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Ah... Ah...

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain,
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies.
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,

That grow so incredibly high.

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you're gone.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Ah... Ah...

Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties.
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile,
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,

(Beatles)


Image by Martina Hoffman - "Lysergic Summer Dream"