Thread by @nickcammarata

Can apparently jhana now (I think) and so far it’s the freest lunch of free lunches

Ready at all moments to be bamboozled with the catch

N=5 tries, all five complete sensory overload of pleasure and serenity when I was otherwise not feeling great moments before the sit. Feelings last ~2 hours afterwards (weaker than the sit though)

I know I’m supposed to not get distracted by this tool and just use it a means to overcome my need for it. But what if I just.. don’t?

https://twitter.com/2sha256/status/1418615341807251457

I’m a noob so don’t take this too seriously but for me so far jhana 1 (I think) isn’t very pleasurable it’s just very buzzy and energetic and.. bubbly? But then switching to jhana 2 is pure calm serenity bliss as it’s supposed to be

And I can hold jhana 2 indefinitely as far as I can tell, until my back hurts at least. But it’s a very simple state, just clean joy. After I while I want to go do other things (take that, wireheaders!)

Since lots of people are asking, my track so far was try meditation (concentration + jhana) for 3-4 years and mostly suck at it, 3-4 years of psychedelic therapy + metta + IFS + Alexander Technique + Core Transformation and other meditation adjacent things

Then came back to it a few days ago and I’m apparently way better at it. Getting into intense (for me) concentration states doesn’t take long, and jhana apparently works, worked first try. Along the therapy journey killed my internal voice which helps I think. It’s quieter

https://twitter.com/noampomsky/status/1331696369912823808

And in terms of the specific jhana algorithm any book will work (I like Right Concentration) but I followed this video a couple days ago when it worked the first time (again, I think, don’t want to overclaim anything)

To be clear the 3-4 years were in serial not parallel. So 6-8 years of regularly doing meditation or meditation-adjacent things (half full failure then half mostly success)

also just to be clear my form is pretty rough. The transition from breath to piti isn’t smooth, while the piti is growing I sometimes get distracted and have to return to breath or metta to grow concentration further. But if I keep fiddling I consistently hit stable serene bliss

interestingly my troubles are getting to what I think is jhana 1. Switching to 2 it’s like a wave catches me, energy goes way down, peace+bliss way up, and it pushes me as long as I want. When I choose to end and open my eyes my vision is like 2cb for 10s. Lovey+romantic+bright

We should teach this in every high school. Even if it takes 4 years of trying it’s probably worth it, and I don’t think it would take most people that long. Far valuable than most classes, which people forget everything about. No one forgets about jhana

https://twitter.com/meekaale/status/1418625958127489032

maybe tmi but closest qualia to jhana 1 is someone sliding a quill feather against my skin which makes a buzzy vibration feeling, but my whole body. Closest algebra for jhana 2 is after sex serenity+bliss+completeness/no desire minus positive feelings for partner minus sleepy

In both cases the jhana qualia is at least an order of magnitude stronger than either of the things I compared them to. Which is a lot because those other things are strong!