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--- thoughts:spirituality:egodeath [2021/04/25 20:31] – Owen Mellema
+++ thoughts:spirituality:egodeath [2021/04/26 02:42] (current) – [Conclusion] Owen Mellema
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
     * **Expectation**. Probably most importantly, the individual may expect to have the feeling, which may cause it to be so.
-===== Good or bad? =====
+===== Conclusion =====
-Is this good or bad? Take your pick. There are pros and cons to consider.
+The experiences can be a good thing. They can be cathartic, and have the effect of giving a person new direction. In my list of potential causes, I mentioned that self-reflection is a possible cause. That is a good thing. It allows people to think about their problems from a different perspective.
+On the other hand, what about people that don't feel those things? If we adopt a spiritualistic view of these experiences, that must mean that they are being left out by the spirit. Are they just a bad person? Or are they just the sort of person that is less emotional?
+Additionally, can you actually achieve enlightenment from experiences that are localized entirely in the self? Richard King says this about mysticism and psychedelics:
+> The privatisation of mysticism – that is, the increasing tendency to locate the mystical in the psychological realm of personal experiences – serves to exclude it from political issues as social justice. Mysticism thus becomes seen as a personal matter of cultivating inner states of tranquility and equanimity, which, rather than seeking to transform the world, serve to accommodate the individual to the status quo through the alleviation of anxiety and stress.
+If we apply this critique to Christianity, we see that the good work of helping the poor, spreading the gospel, etc could be interrupted by a chasing after these states of alleged enlightenment. However, a good rebuttal could be made from [[wp>psychological egoism]], that if we accept the fact that all ethical acts are selfish to some degree, prioritizing inner states makes a lot of sense, because those inner states could lead to more ethical actions.