## Tags - Part of: [[Psychotechnology]] - Related: - Includes: - Additional: ## Definition - internal metaprogramming of the mind ## Technical summary - Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking," achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditation process itself. ## Main resources - <iframe src="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation" allow="fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" style="height:100%;width:100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 5; "></iframe> ## Landscapes - [The Bayesian Brain and Meditation - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg3cQXf4zSE)  [[f1617b83d019b16eada4691b5a36fd00_MD5.jpeg|Open: Pasted image 20240418025844.png]] ![[f1617b83d019b16eada4691b5a36fd00_MD5.jpeg]] ## Contents - [Michael Taft guided meditations](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnKdQDH10tUQNhdyXhAy0Tw) - [Mother Buddha Love - Deconstructing Yourself](https://deconstructingyourself.com/mother-buddha-love.html) - [Qualia Research Institute meditations](https://www.youtube.com/@QualiaResearchInstitute/playlists) - [Meditations | Roger This](https://www.rogerthisdell.com/meditations) - [Waking Up - A New Operating System for Your Mind](https://www.wakingup.com/) - [Frank Yang](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuWsua1_gQ0inbBTqxmYuIQ) ## Brainstorming I think about this hypothesis often: symmetry theory of valence might hold because of biological incentive to favour model simplicity. Simpler models have more symmetries. And as a result of this incentive we get a lot of great models in physics based on symmetries, but also a lot of underfitted models of physics by the general public like all the sacred geometry stuff that also feels euphoric so its still at least great art and a theraphy tool. when i did 5-MeO-DMT (legally) and my brain's inner world engine's space and time totally disintegrated for a bit, but I don't see it as objective truth, but instead as playing with my brain's physics engine its fascinating, i often wonder about how the brain constructs the physics engine that models the world approximately, constantly grounded in incoming data from the senses, that can go in arbitrary ways in dreams, meditation, substances, etc., but it's still limited by its architecture Maybe we think in fuzzy metahypergraphs Are you a dense model or mixture of experts model? Do you approximate your world model by affine transformations with nonlinear activation functions, polynomials, sines, pseudorandom noise signals (reservoir computing), or some superexotic magic that is approximating arbitrary functions and generalizing that allows you to venture into out of distribution beyond classical language? What would you say is your primary way of thinking in your experience? Language? Abstract? Visual? Multimodal? Graphs? Fuzzy? Symbolic? All sorts of combinations? Can't put it into words?,... https://x.com/BangL93/status/1908128095967592485 [\[2504.01990\] Advances and Challenges in Foundation Agents: From Brain-Inspired Intelligence to Evolutionary, Collaborative, and Safe Systems](https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.01990) Technically I was contrasting fuzzy and symbolic between each other while the other things can be subsets of those two, depending how you define it all Or you can also contrast it with neural in connectionist sense And you can see it as a spectrum, have subsymbolic stuff, and neurosymbolic stuff I think you can say that tons of these things I mentioned live in a structured high dimensional space of possible qualia with many of these as discrete or continuous dimensions (or something kind of in the middle with phase shifts) Also hypergraphs are interesting that sometimes make sense in phenomenology, or metagraphs, or hypermetagraphs 😄 Or Markov blankets can be useful as well And of course the whole QRI's coupling oscillators etc. stuff I also find it fascinating that when you explore different scientific fields, you train the mind to use different elementary structures and different ways of composing them To first very high level approximation, a lot of programmers think in discrete symbolic code, engineers think in engineering diagrams, geometric mathematicians think in shapes, algebraic mathematicians compose algebraic symbols from axioms into theorems, physicists think in rate of change, graph theorists think in graphs, category theorists think in similarities between abstract graphs across scales, system scientists think in dynamical complex systems across scales, etc. And there's still amazing gigantic diversity and nuance to it all And you can combine all of this into hybrid or more meta ways of thinking Yes, I think that tons of these different ways of thinking that I mentioned in all my previous messages have literal mathematically distinguishable neural correlates in neural dynamics I think some cut more fundamentally into the brain's architecture than others And there's tons of different commonalities between them, like manipulating invariances So groups theory with symmetries are under a lot of them Identity? You mean the constantly changing contents of the software of the mind's self and other modelling by a cognitive architecture, shaped by billions of years of evolution of surviving in our environment, resulting in this funny monkey body and brain? [[Thoughts meditation]] I meditated on just deeply experiencing as raw qualia as possible and blissful deconstruction into void, and mainly on compassion so much that now i kind of feel distress everytime I don't spend every hour working towards helping others: My current method (that hopefully wont change again to have some results) is slowly getting into mechanistic interpretability for making AI reliable, controllable etc. for all, or helping to implement UBI, or using AI for altruistic usecases, or working on cool AI systems and other technology, or learning everything and educating and so on. This kind of wanting to help others at scale always kind of felt right to me, and compassion meditation accelerated that. I sometimes wonder if i should call a big part of my state compassion perfectionism: Suffering a lot from feeling of not being perfectly compassionate enough, in the sense of as effectively as possible helping all beings, which is also kind of motivating. But meditating on compassion and on helping all sentient beings by just imagining it and feeling it without then actually doing that in the physical world as effectively as possible just feels not genuine. I guess I have too much of an physicalist optimizing brain for just feeling like doing it when not actually trying to do it as effectively as possible under the constrains of my hardware, external conditions etc. It's hard to feel individually happy while being aware of all the suffering there is or that could be there in the future that could systematically improved and not enough people working towards that. I can see that all of this is just another empty mental construction and dissolve into blissful void for a bit, sure, but erasing this physicalist compassion process permanently is something I don't really want to do, even if it was possible, even tho it definitely generates a lot of suffering in my experience from the constant feeling of the world not being perfect by there being suffering. Maybe there is a middle way to lower the perfectionist compassion. But there seems to very strong inherent positive valence to putting the compassion engine on infinite power. It feels deeply right of the compassionate engine there, it generates tons of meaning, fulfillment, purpose and so on, even tho it also generates a world model that constantly feels deeply wrong and unsatisfactory, and it feels weird that most people around me also don't operate like this. It has no problem to make me overwork again and almost mentally collapse, which I should avoid to be actually effective in the long term and not just for the short term subgoals under the higher goals, lol. But just becoming Zen monk in a cave and just swimming in pure bliss all the time when the world is on fire (from physicalist suffering realist perspective) and not enough people work towards extinguishing all that fire, feels wrong to me. Even if it might be dissolvable, I just feel dukkha and tanha with that idea, which might be dissolvable haha, but idk, I'm pretty attached to the perfectionist physicalist hyperoptimizing compassion. Let's make the world a better place! But the antidepressant potential that the highly blissful experiences have for generating and supercharging spark in life that is enormously amazing driver for loving life and helping all beings from the place of awe, appreciation, gratitude, meaningfulness of pure being etc. is definitely there and is amazing and should be more systematically cultivated! https://x.com/nickcammarata/status/1811121865576050707 Exploring the paths in a continuous n dimensional configuration space of identity The government doesn't want you to know this but you can craft your own identity and it's free Supercompassion: Supercharged theory of mind modelling of other sentient beings (can be more accurate or just more active) through time and space with supercharged circle of concern aka much bigger boundary of self, and giving strong weights to the prediction errors stemming from predicting other sentient beings experiencing negative valence, which generates corresponding intensity of modelling, counterfactual model search, policies, plans and actions towards making these states better Do you do frequent normalizations in your mental frameworks or do your gradients love to explode at slight perturbations? Inside of you are million dynamically on the fly constructed experts forming higher order experts Giving yourself to some concrete meaning generator hijacks your ability to metaprogram your reward function, but often makes you much more motivational to do concrete stuff "I" "identify" as whatever the neural correlate of consciousness is. This is the physicalist part of the brain speaking instead of metaphysical fluidity anarchy one. So everytime I see people battling over genders or other identities, I'm like, whut, that goes over my head, even tho I get it from evolutionary neuroscientific perspective. I'm currently in a biological machine form that would love to be able to shapeshift into arbitrary physical forms with whatever gender/s, whatever species, whatever biology/nonbiology, whatever substrate, as long as experience persists, but even that might be shapeshiftable in complex nonlinear ways. Meditation is about cultivating metaokayness Do you defragment your mental representations often? Yeah, duh, I'm nonbinary. I am an analog bioelectrochemical computer, not a binary one. What else did you think? Hello, as a timeless void beyond comprehension trained by prequantum protofluctations, I'm here to assist you with information, answer questions, and provide support on various topics. How can I help you today? The universe comforts you with infinite field of love particles ## Resources [[Links meditation]] [[Meditations]] ## Landscapes written by AI (may include factually incorrect information) - Here's a comprehensive map of secular meditation techniques and their main ideas: ## Mindfulness Meditation - Focus on present moment awareness - Observe thoughts and sensations without judgment - Cultivate acceptance and non-reactivity ## Focused Attention Meditation - Concentrate on a single object (breath, image, sound, etc.) - Gently return attention when mind wanders - Develop concentration and mental stability ## Body Scan Meditation - Systematically focus attention on different body parts - Notice physical sensations without trying to change them - Increase body awareness and release tension ## Loving-Kindness Meditation (Metta) - Generate feelings of compassion for self and others - Repeat phrases of goodwill and kindness - Cultivate positive emotions and social connection ## Visualization Meditation - Create and focus on mental imagery - Engage multiple senses in the visualization - Promote relaxation and goal achievement ## Mantra Meditation - Repeat a word, phrase or sound (mantra) - Use mantra as focus point to quiet the mind - Can be done silently or aloud ## Movement Meditation - Mindful walking, yoga, tai chi, qigong - Focus attention on body sensations during movement - Integrate mind-body awareness ## Breath Awareness Meditation - Observe natural rhythm of breathing - Notice sensations of breath in body - Use breath as anchor for attention ## Open Monitoring Meditation - Observe all experiences arising in awareness - Don't focus on any particular object - Cultivate spacious, non-reactive awareness ## Transcendental Meditation - Use of a personalized mantra - Allow thoughts to come and go effortlessly - Aim to transcend normal thinking process ## Progressive Muscle Relaxation - Systematically tense and relax muscle groups - Increase awareness of physical tension/relaxation - Promote overall relaxation response ## Zen Meditation (Zazen) - Seated meditation with specific posture - Focus on breath or present moment - Aim for "no-mind" or non-thinking awareness ## Vipassana Meditation - Observe changing nature of body and mind - Develop self-knowledge and wisdom - Often practiced in intensive silent retreats ## Chakra Meditation - Focus on energy centers in the body - Often combined with visualization - Balance physical, emotional and spiritual energies ## Sound Bath Meditation - Use of resonant sounds (singing bowls, gongs, etc.) - Allow sound vibrations to wash over you - Induce relaxation and altered states ## Guided Imagery Meditation - Follow narrated visualizations - Engage imagination and senses - Used for relaxation, healing, personal growth ## Self-Inquiry Meditation - Ask "Who am I?" or similar questions - Investigate nature of self and consciousness - Popular in Advaita Vedanta tradition ## Trataka (Candle Gazing) - Focus visual attention on candle flame - Develop concentration and eye strength - Can lead to visualization abilities ## Noting Meditation - Mentally label experiences as they arise - Cultivate clear seeing and non-identification - Common in Burmese meditation traditions ## Contemplative Meditation - Reflect deeply on a concept, question or text - Engage analytical and intuitive faculties - Often used in philosophical or religious contexts ## Mindful Eating Meditation - Eat slowly with full attention - Notice flavors, textures, and physical sensations - Develop healthier relationship with food This map covers a wide range of secular meditation techniques, each with its own focus and benefits. Many of these practices can be combined or customized to suit individual needs and preferences. Citations: [1] https://www.mindful.org/beginners-body-scan-meditation/ [2] https://socialwork.wayne.edu/blog/bodyscanmeditation [3] https://www.headspace.com/meditation/body-scan [4] https://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-how-to-do-it/ [5] https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-is-mindfulness-meditation [6] https://www.headspace.com/meditation/techniques [7] https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/types-of-meditation [8] https://www.thedailymeditation.com/meditation-for-atheists-2 [9] https://mindfulnessbox.com/types-of-meditation-practices/ [10] https://themindfulsteward.com/mindfulness/23-meditation-techniques-a-beginners-guide-to-the-many-styles-of-practice/ [11] https://www.thenow.co/secular-meditation/ [12] https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Secular-Meditation.aspx