Timmy! on Media Lens

I might be seeking egoic attention. I’m a meditator, and meditation usually makes me feel better. I'm also a Chomskyist and intend to seek out and read this book. Still, the thought arises: Why are so many experienced meditators with platforms and audiences either indifferent (John Vervaeke, Shinzen Young, most of the IMS teachers, Jay Garfield, Roger Thurman) or both-siding (Robert Wright, the Zen Peacemakers) the extermination project in occupied Palestine? Or even worse, there’s Sam Harris with his app, whom Norman Finkelstein accurately described as a moral imbecile, who has been on a mission to promote and justify the extermination and ridicule those who oppose it. Is it that “they're not doing it right?” Or is meditation not enough? Does meditation reduce egoism? Does meditation increase solidarity? Where’s the evidence for that? Where I live, there is a Zen center with a sensei who wears his medieval Japanese outfit and seems unbearably patronizing. “I’m so happy and enlightened and can see what’s real, but you can't, so listen to me.” I’m aware of some research that shows that meditators often have an inflated sense of ego. They’re special, they've had insight or kensho. And some of the most generous and selfless people I’ve met have never sat on a cushion. If we want to save what’s good about meditation — Zen, Vedanta, Tibetan, Vipassana, prayer, or whatever form it takes- I think the problem I’m describing — the moral imbicility that often accompanies meditation- must be taken seriously.