Genius is iterative, not derivative. It’s a team effort.

It’s the last day for Early Bird Tickets for what might be the biggest event in meditation in Boston this year, June 26th. We have so many incredible speakers who have never been in dialogue together, until now!. #meditation #symposium. RSVP Now!

RT @ekkolapto: Join us on June 26 in Cambridge MA for the Future of Meditation Research and Practice: .@lucadeldeo from Meditation Artifact….

I’ll be presenting at the VISIONS Summit on June 10th on some pretty strange stuff. Looking forward to it!. The future of meditation might resemble things like Tulpamancy and memory palaces more than mindfulness!. @futurecommerce

Another Taves gem. Resurfacing the issues of comparitivism in religion, all of which are legitimate concerns. I think comparison is possible, but should not be done with universals. Specifics and contexts matter. The terms we use can say more about us than they do the subject.

Rereading Ann Taves' 'Religious Experience Reconsidered.' Minimally counterintuitive supernatural agents are those that mostly adhere to the world as we know it. This strikes me as true: for us to experience any supernatural agent, we must have a world in which it can make sense.

This Sunday are you in Boston? Come see this hackathon at MIT! We’re testing the idea of putting people together to come up with innovative solutions without special skills. If we start collectively problem solving, what can’t we accomplish? #boston.

Hosted in collaboration @ekkolapto and @auglab! Check them out.

What is a cognitive hackathon? Its a hackathon for everyone. All you need is a curious mind and to get inspired by this event's incredible roster of speakers. Check out this cognitive hackathon happening in Cambridge, MIT this weekend! #hackathon.

#hackathon #boston.

Beginning discussions to organize a “meditation and cognitive augmentation” hackathon in the Boston area. Stage magic, meditation, esoteric experiences, mind palaces: what projects and products can people build after a crash course on these things?.

The idea came to me from listening to Nate Silver on Ezra Klein’s podcast recently. Silver posited that SBF played into an eccentric persona. Investors could lean into the eccentricity as a display of his credibility as an innovator.

Imagine a workshop inspired by Tulpamancy (from my TED Talk): participants create and embody a persona they aspire to be. Just as Sam Bankman-Fried may have crafted a persona for VCs, we can explore personas that are both impactful and enjoyable to embody. #tulpamancy.

Are people interested in non-Buddhist meditation? I don’t mean secular meditations, like mindfulness. I mean techniques from Hinduism, Taoism, and mystical parts of Christianity and Judaism. Even the Method of Loci (Memory Palace) might be a meditation. #Meditation #Mindfulness.

treating Buddhism as a philosophy makes its meditation practices feel secular, and therefore acceptable, when other religions similar practices might only occur in esoteric and elite communities. This means American Buddhism was well positioned to define American meditation.

When thinking about the reason that we associate meditation with Buddhism, we really have to consider how Buddhism introduced meditation to the US in the 20th ce. A lot of reputable people went out of their way to demonstrate that Buddhism wasn’t a religion but….

If we define meditation practice by the behaviors, usually focus on a philosophically weighty symbol or simple awareness, we can see that kind of practice emerging in both structured and unstructured forms in many cultures. Particularly in esoteric elite, like priests and monks.

Reflecting about people who say “meditation doesn’t work for me.” I think this is a consequence of secularizing Buddhism in the US and claiming it as the solitary source of meditation practices. There are historic reasons for that, but it isn’t accurate….

Working on an education platform to help people connect with meditation practices fitting their cultural and theological needs. Any connections or engagement would be great. More dialogue, the better. Makes a more inclusive approach.

Searching for scholars of Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity with interest in meditation practices within those traditions. #Hinduism #islam #judaism #christianity #scholar #meditation.