[Terminology note: "samatha", "jhana", "insight", "homunculus" and "non-local time" are technical jargon defined in Rationalist Cyberbuddhist Jargon 1.0]
To understand how meditation affects the brain, it is necessary to understand criticality. Criticality comes from the mathematical study of dynamical systems. Dynamical systems are systems in which a point moves through space. Dynamical systems can be described on a continuum with ordered on one end and disordered on the other end.
- An ordered system has a small, positive number of stable attractors. Fluctuations die out quickly.
- A disordered system has chaotic, turbulent, or equivalent behavior.
On the threshold between ordered and disordered is the critical point. Systems more disordered than the critical point can be described as supercritical. Systems less disordered than the critical point can be described as subcritical. Systems at the critical point maximize complexity, which is a measure of entropy expressed across a variety of time scales.
With that bookkeeping terminology out of the way, let's get into the neuroscience.
Many EEG scans have shown the human brain to exhibit scale-free temporal statistics and behavior, which implies it is likely operating near criticality. The current theory is that resting-state [...]
---
First published:
December 5th, 2025
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Nwkzggk49Fq6knb9t/critical-meditation-theory
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
