[Buddha-l] neuroscience: neural plasticity

[jkirk]

Agreed. In fact when I hear the word "spiritual" I feel (metaphorically, of
course) like Goering did when he heard the word culture.
Spiritual doesn't mean anything, or it means everything, whatever people
want it to mean. When I hear it used, it covers a multitude of unthought or
unexamined questions.
Thanks for those two citations--more books to read.
Joanna
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I've never understood what "spiritual" means, other than being related to
breathing and certain psychological states (e..g, school spirit, which
students are exhorted to raise in pep rallies). 

Seems easy to use "spiritual" as a tool of judgment, i.e., spiritual = good,
or at least better than average, and certainly much better than
non-spiritual. Related to a question of moral purity, perhaps?

"Any road...." (James Herriott)

Regarding meditation research, isn't the point of Buddhism to relieve
suffering? The use of skillful means is encouraged, no?

Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, in _The Mind and the Brain_, discusses at length his
mindfulness-based approach to treating OCD. Jon Kabat-Zinn (_Full
Catastrophe Living_) also uses mindfulness meditation in treating
intractable cases of chronic pain. Some methods of cognitive therapy are
using mindfulness as part of a treatment regimen for depression.

So, why not study meditation to learn how it could help people in need?

Speaking of spiritual materialism, the flip side might well be spiritual
snobbery, something _all_ religions have in abundance. 


Or perhaps I've misunderstand you. If so, apologies in advance.


Michael


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