At 03:58 PM 27/01/01 -0700, Michael LaTorra wrote:
>Here's the rub: People who enter these altered
>states become extremely susceptible to outside memetic influences, which may
>or may not prove benign in the long run. If the experiencer is in a
>religious environment, then he or she can become a Christian, Muslim, Jew,
>Hindu, Buddhist or any New Agey religion imaginable.
This is cognate with what social scientist Lucien Lévy-Bruhl called
`participation mystique'. Hence the effectiveness of the Nazi mass rallies,
and soccer hooligan/ street demo hysteria, etc.
>But what would happen
>if an individual entered an experiential state of feeling one with
>everything (a state of nondifferentiation) while participating in an
>Extropian "meditation workshop"? Would he or she become a more effective
>advocate of transhumanist ideas, or a glaze-eyed fanatic?
Mmmmmm. Glazed....
Damien Broderick
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