The later stages of that document are heavily influenced by Western meditation styles. Note that Ken Wilber, whose model heavily influences it, is a well-known figure in the Western Buddhism community. I don’t think Ken Wilber would disagree with me in saying that reaching the “Unitive stage” described therein is only possible through contemplative practice (i.e. meditation), since it basically describes in academic terms a very conventional modern Buddhist view of enlightenment.
I am a very regular meditation practitioner, and it strikes me as somewhat odd to put it on a continuum with stages of developmental psychology, although perhaps my opinion will change once I’m enlightened. Based on my understanding, it seems orthogonal. For example, a characteristic described of stage 4 is “Truth: Can be found through
appropriate scientific methods if not now later.” This seems like a simple statement of philosophy based on intellectual arguments that would be unlikely to change just because one practices enough to make their mind experience non-duality between observer and observed.
Meditation is just a way of practicing with your mind to experience reality in a specific way. That experience often does change how people think reality works, but I contend that it shouldn’t, as it’s more of a trick of your mental perception than anything else. I also think that there is self-selection for the people that are changed in such a way. People that want to view things through a unitive, universal, new age, “cosmic” perspective are more likely to see the experienced non-duality of enlightenment as validation of their perspective.
If meditation is the pathway to reach the highest level of psychological development, shouldn’t it in principle be possible to move people from the earlier stages to the middle stages with the same method?
I don’t have any references that I can reach for, and I’m not sure how good the studies actually are, or what they actually say, but my mild belief is that meditation does generally accelerate cognitive development at all stages.
Also, the “unitive” stage isn’t just found in advanced meditators: “enlightenment is an accident, meditation makes you accident prone,” as the saying goes. Not that I want to get into a discussion about classical Buddhist enlightenment. Also, Wilber does say that that meditative attainment and cognitive development can be orthogonal (see “Wilber-Combs lattice” concept).
Finally, “Meditation is just a way of practicing with your mind to experience reality in a specific way,” is a really broad statement. There’s lots of different kinds of meditation. The types of meditation that are probably most relevant here are not “state achievement and stabilization” types, but meditation techniques that make what your mind is already doing more transparent over time.
I think “mind functioning transparency” and associated metacognitive skill increases are a key part of how all this hangs together (cf. the so-called “construct aware” stage, for example). So, the above class of meditation protocols could accelerate the “ego level” line, and use of which would be correlated with but not necessary for hitting the so-called “unitive” stage.
But I do agree that descriptions of the “unitive” stage (by both the experiencers and the researchers) can be colored by all sorts of “spiritual” language and assumptions, and these assumptions have certainly influenced the path and interpretation of this research (and that influence is a mixed bag). But there is methodologically sound signal in there, and I think it’s likely that there’s an underlying structure to the unfolding of the higher (and lower) stages that can be independent of culture, meditation, and Buddhism. In any case, the nature/nurture/culture influence at each stage and the “ontological status” of these stages is still an open question, as are their utility and malleability.
The later stages of that document are heavily influenced by Western meditation styles. Note that Ken Wilber, whose model heavily influences it, is a well-known figure in the Western Buddhism community. I don’t think Ken Wilber would disagree with me in saying that reaching the “Unitive stage” described therein is only possible through contemplative practice (i.e. meditation), since it basically describes in academic terms a very conventional modern Buddhist view of enlightenment.
I am a very regular meditation practitioner, and it strikes me as somewhat odd to put it on a continuum with stages of developmental psychology, although perhaps my opinion will change once I’m enlightened. Based on my understanding, it seems orthogonal. For example, a characteristic described of stage 4 is “Truth: Can be found through appropriate scientific methods if not now later.” This seems like a simple statement of philosophy based on intellectual arguments that would be unlikely to change just because one practices enough to make their mind experience non-duality between observer and observed.
Meditation is just a way of practicing with your mind to experience reality in a specific way. That experience often does change how people think reality works, but I contend that it shouldn’t, as it’s more of a trick of your mental perception than anything else. I also think that there is self-selection for the people that are changed in such a way. People that want to view things through a unitive, universal, new age, “cosmic” perspective are more likely to see the experienced non-duality of enlightenment as validation of their perspective.
If meditation is the pathway to reach the highest level of psychological development, shouldn’t it in principle be possible to move people from the earlier stages to the middle stages with the same method?
Thoughts:
I don’t have any references that I can reach for, and I’m not sure how good the studies actually are, or what they actually say, but my mild belief is that meditation does generally accelerate cognitive development at all stages.
Also, the “unitive” stage isn’t just found in advanced meditators: “enlightenment is an accident, meditation makes you accident prone,” as the saying goes. Not that I want to get into a discussion about classical Buddhist enlightenment. Also, Wilber does say that that meditative attainment and cognitive development can be orthogonal (see “Wilber-Combs lattice” concept).
Finally, “Meditation is just a way of practicing with your mind to experience reality in a specific way,” is a really broad statement. There’s lots of different kinds of meditation. The types of meditation that are probably most relevant here are not “state achievement and stabilization” types, but meditation techniques that make what your mind is already doing more transparent over time.
I think “mind functioning transparency” and associated metacognitive skill increases are a key part of how all this hangs together (cf. the so-called “construct aware” stage, for example). So, the above class of meditation protocols could accelerate the “ego level” line, and use of which would be correlated with but not necessary for hitting the so-called “unitive” stage.
But I do agree that descriptions of the “unitive” stage (by both the experiencers and the researchers) can be colored by all sorts of “spiritual” language and assumptions, and these assumptions have certainly influenced the path and interpretation of this research (and that influence is a mixed bag). But there is methodologically sound signal in there, and I think it’s likely that there’s an underlying structure to the unfolding of the higher (and lower) stages that can be independent of culture, meditation, and Buddhism. In any case, the nature/nurture/culture influence at each stage and the “ontological status” of these stages is still an open question, as are their utility and malleability.