Meditation induced change of consciousness increases dopamine releases ... what significance could that have?
Recent research has indicated that high levels of dopamine affect the propensity to find meaning, patterns, and significance where there is none, and that this propensity is related to a tendency to believe in the paranormal.
Apophenia is the term for spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness of unrelated, random or meaningless data phenomena, e.g. Lekhraj Kirpalani drawing circles on the walls of a family home and turning it into the pillar of his religion.
A quick, rough sketch taken from: Being Amused by Apophenia, The Skeptic Dictionary and elsewhere. See also; Pareidolia.
The propensity to see connections between seemingly unrelated objects or ideas links psychosis to creativity. Individuals, e.g. having a psychotic episode, often think they see the significances in random things such as automobile license plate numbers, birth dates, and arrangements of fallen twigs.
The word "Apophänie", which has become apophenia, was coined by Klaus Conrad to characterize the onset of delusional thinking in psychosis from the Greek apo [away from] + phaenein [to show] reflecting the fact that a schizophrenic initials experiences delusion as revelation.
In contrast to epiphany, however, apophany does not provide insight into the true nature of reality or its interconnectedness, but is a "process of repetitively and monotonously experiencing abnormal meanings in the entire surrounding experiential field" which are entirely self-referential, solipsistic and often paranoid, e.g. Lekhraj Kirpalani believing that he and his gopis of the Om Mandli were responsible for WWII happening. Paranoia of an unbelievable scale when you think about it.
Whether or not BK meditation increases Apophenia, I do not know but I do know, on the basis of my own experience with the Brahma Kumaris that, socially, they encourage apophenia amongst adherents. A simple form might be seeing their Baba performing miracles of practical events around them, or feeling "touched" and personally directed by God to do things on a regular basis.
However, I am not a professional psychologist and may have the science wrong, so you must do your own research, contemplation and come to your own conclusions ... comments welcome.
Recent research has indicated that high levels of dopamine affect the propensity to find meaning, patterns, and significance where there is none, and that this propensity is related to a tendency to believe in the paranormal.
Apophenia is the term for spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness of unrelated, random or meaningless data phenomena, e.g. Lekhraj Kirpalani drawing circles on the walls of a family home and turning it into the pillar of his religion.
A quick, rough sketch taken from: Being Amused by Apophenia, The Skeptic Dictionary and elsewhere. See also; Pareidolia.
There is currently a controversial debate concerning whether unusual experiences are symptoms of a mental disorder, if mental disorders are a consequence of such experiences, or if people with mental disorders are especially susceptible to or even looking for these experiences.
--Dr. Martina Belz-Merk
nothing is so alien to the human mind as the idea of randomness.”
--John Cohen
The propensity to see connections between seemingly unrelated objects or ideas links psychosis to creativity. Individuals, e.g. having a psychotic episode, often think they see the significances in random things such as automobile license plate numbers, birth dates, and arrangements of fallen twigs.
The word "Apophänie", which has become apophenia, was coined by Klaus Conrad to characterize the onset of delusional thinking in psychosis from the Greek apo [away from] + phaenein [to show] reflecting the fact that a schizophrenic initials experiences delusion as revelation.
In contrast to epiphany, however, apophany does not provide insight into the true nature of reality or its interconnectedness, but is a "process of repetitively and monotonously experiencing abnormal meanings in the entire surrounding experiential field" which are entirely self-referential, solipsistic and often paranoid, e.g. Lekhraj Kirpalani believing that he and his gopis of the Om Mandli were responsible for WWII happening. Paranoia of an unbelievable scale when you think about it.
Whether or not BK meditation increases Apophenia, I do not know but I do know, on the basis of my own experience with the Brahma Kumaris that, socially, they encourage apophenia amongst adherents. A simple form might be seeing their Baba performing miracles of practical events around them, or feeling "touched" and personally directed by God to do things on a regular basis.
However, I am not a professional psychologist and may have the science wrong, so you must do your own research, contemplation and come to your own conclusions ... comments welcome.