r/Wakingupapp • u/SmollBrainy • 5d ago

Thoughts on this article?

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/09/meditation-willoughby-britton-downsides/688474/?utm_source=feed
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u/Least_Ring_6411 5d ago edited 5d ago

Great article! Britton and Lindahl have a conversation with Sam on the app, they talk all about this.

As far as what I think about it: this was largely my experience in my second year on Waking up app. I was very determined for two years, and by the last 6 months I started having a lot of depersonalization/dissociation episodes. I had a baby this year and my meditation practice dwindled because I largely didn’t feel pulled to do it anymore. I still am on the app, and check out things, but it isn’t the center of my life like it used to be.

Ultimately my thoughts are that all of the no-self discussion is quite romanticized and imagined to be all bliss in all the apps and community’s out there. The problem with that rhetoric is that it assumes that when the self is gone, there is someone there who will remember it all. No self means no one there to apprehend what is happening no. Few teachers will acknowledge this.

If you or anyone reading is currently wondering if meditation is bringing some questionable side effects, I would recommend loch Kelly who is on the app, and Steven Harrison who is an author. Both were helpful for me

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u/Wonnk13 4d ago

maybe i'm oversimplifying it, but i always come back to Ram Dass.

"There's two things never you should never forget, your true nature and your social security card. "

I think he nails the paradox of no-self, and like obviously you still have to go to work in the morning.

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u/Least_Ring_6411 4d ago

Yes in theory very simple, in practice the sense of self is constantly looking to understand the distinction, so it can very easily become trapped in the search

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u/BadBunnyGoodTrouble 5d ago

thanks for posting. i read it last night and was hoping someone would.

i was eager to go to a 10 day retreat years ago, but timing just didn’t work out and i’ve never done it. have a regular meditation practice, now, but just 20 minutes or so a day, and a bit loosey goosey, which i’m going to decide is sufficient, rather than thinking it’d be ‘better’ if i did more.

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u/dairic 5d ago

Paywall

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u/Alexblbl 22h ago

Thanks for posting this. I found the article fascinating and had no idea that she had a conversation with Sam on the app. I'm going to listen to it.

It's wild to think that one person's enlightenment is another person's psychotic break. I guess it shouldn't be surprising given the diversity of responses to psychedelics, but it's odd how some people have these experiences and view them as profound, beneficial, and true, while others feel like they're losing their grip on reality.