Are people highly advanced in
meditation serenely immune to anxiety, cravings, depression, fear and
irritation? No — but they gain an edge on existence.
In their 1995 report on yogis in the
advanced stages of meditative practice, The
Stages of Mindfulness Meditation: A Validation Study, Jack Engler and Daniel
P. Brown found: “What changes is not so much the nature of conflict, but
awareness of and reactivity to it … (With practice) there is greater awareness
of and openness to conflict, but paradoxically less reaction at the same time
in an impulsive, identificatory and therefore painful way … (The practitioner)
may note the intense desire until it passes, like every other transient mental
state, or he/she may act on it, but with full awareness … Mindfulness is said
to automatically intervene between impulse or thought and action in such cases.
This mechanism of reality, combined with clear and impartial observation,
allows a new freedom from drive and a new freedom for well-considered and
appropriate action.”
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