disconnected from religion? There are many main stream meditations and most of them belong to religion such as Tibetan Buddhism or have an historical connection with religion. For example, TM is secular but is connected to Hinduism. There is also, of course, the Christian meditation.
Some scientists, such as Benson with its relaxation response protocol, have described meditations in scientific papers. Benson's relaxation response is derived from TM, but there is no professionally trained teachers and some studies indicate that the benefits are different, which makes sense because the teaching is different.
So what is your position on this. Should we consider the different meditations scientifically as they can be currently learned, irrespectively of their connection with religion? Or should we reject any connection with religion and only consider meditations that can be learned in scientific papers? What is more scientific?
OK, I realize that I did not formulate the question correctly. I didn't want to know whether meditation is connected with religion. Of course, traditional meditations are connected to religion. That is a fact. The question is whether we should reject these traditional meditations and create our own personal meditation based on what is described in scientific papers or books?
Some scientists, such as Benson with its relaxation response protocol, have described meditations in scientific papers. Benson's relaxation response is derived from TM, but there is no professionally trained teachers and some studies indicate that the benefits are different, which makes sense because the teaching is different.
So what is your position on this. Should we consider the different meditations scientifically as they can be currently learned, irrespectively of their connection with religion? Or should we reject any connection with religion and only consider meditations that can be learned in scientific papers? What is more scientific?
OK, I realize that I did not formulate the question correctly. I didn't want to know whether meditation is connected with religion. Of course, traditional meditations are connected to religion. That is a fact. The question is whether we should reject these traditional meditations and create our own personal meditation based on what is described in scientific papers or books?