Meditation and Enlightenment (with Jeremy Stevenson)
Oct 13, 2020
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In this engaging conversation, clinical psychologist Jeremy Stevenson, who has extensively researched meditation, shares his journey from the neuroscience of mindfulness to transformative retreats in Nepal. He defines meditation beyond dogma, explores its intersection with spirituality, and unpacks the concept of enlightenment. Jeremy discusses the emotional fluctuations during meditation, insight into dissociation, and personal anecdotes from intense retreats. He emphasizes the practical benefits of meditation, like reduced anxiety and increased self-compassion, providing listeners with a fresh perspective on this ancient practice.
Meditation can be valuable without religious or spiritual components, providing a range of experiences and benefits.
Non-dual mindfulness involves transcending the sense of self in meditation, presenting both benefits and challenges.
Meditation helps alleviate the unsatisfactory nature of conscious experience, leading to a shift in perspective.
The pursuit of enlightenment through non-dual meditation offers the potential for profound well-being and transformative experiences.
Deep dives
Jeremy's Journey with Meditation
Jeremy shares his experience and journey with meditation, starting from his initial interest sparked by neuroscience research to his first retreat and the benefits he gained from it.
Exploring Definitions and Concepts
Spencer and Jeremy delve into the various definitions of terms like meditation, mindfulness, enlightenment, and discuss the different insights and skills related to meditation.
Mapping Out Techniques, Skills, and Insights
Spencer and Jeremy discuss their ongoing project to map out all the different techniques, skills, and insights related to meditation, aiming to understand the range of experiences and benefits that meditation can offer.
The Importance of Non-Dual Mindfulness
Jeremy and Spencer explore the concept of non-dual mindfulness, discussing the idea of transcending the sense of self and the potential benefits and challenges associated with this approach to meditation.
The Buddhist insight on Dukkha and unsatisfactoriness of conscious experience
The podcast discusses the concept of Dukkha in Buddhism, which refers to the unsatisfactory nature of conscious experience. It is argued that every moment of conscious experience is inherently unsatisfactory, and meditation is seen as a remedy for this. The speaker shares their realization about the unsatisfactoriness of conscious experience and how it shifted their perspective.
The impact on envy and perception of success
The podcast explores how the understanding of unsatisfactoriness influenced the speaker's perception of envy and success. They realized that successful and famous individuals also struggle with conventional problems and experience anxiety and pain. This insight reduced their envy and helped them empathize with others.
The transformative power of meditation retreats
The speaker reflects on their experiences during a one-month meditation retreat and the profound effects it had on their life. They describe feeling calm, economically stable, and experiencing blissful and transformative moments. The retreat changed their life trajectory and motivated them to continue meditating.
Exploring non-dual meditation and the quest for enlightenment
The podcast discusses the concept of non-dual meditation and the pursuit of enlightenment. The speaker shares their interest in this approach, highlighting its potential to provide profound well-being and access a state of bliss or perfection. They express their challenge in understanding and practicing non-dual meditation but express a determination to explore it further.
What's a good definition of meditation that cuts through all the dogma and differing methodology? What are the techniques, skills, and insights associated with meditation? How does meditation connect to religion and spirituality, and is meditation valuable without those components? And what is enlightenment?
Jeremy hails from Adelaide, Australia, and has a PhD in clinical psychology with a dissertation focused on the effects of self-compassion on social anxiety. During his PhD he became intensely interested in meditation, sitting several shorter retreats which eventually culminated in sitting longer retreats, including a 3-month retreat in Nepal. He is now working as a clinical psychology registrar as well as doing research work for both Flinders University and Spark Wave. His current meditation interest is the perplexing skill of nondual mindfulness. Email Jeremy at jeremy.david.stevenson@gmail.com.
