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Hirnforschung und Meditation: Ein Dialog
Rare Book
133 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
4 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Wolf Singer
23 books7 followersWolf Singer is Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and Founding Director of the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies and the Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience in cooperation with the Max Planck Society, where he is also Senior Research Fellow. He is the coauthor of Beyond the Self: Conversations between Buddhism and Neuroscience (MIT Press).
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 26, 2018
Wem Meditation bisher etwas suspekt und esoterisch vorgekommen ist, bekommt hier einen differenzierteren Einblick. Es handelt sich hier um KEIN trockenes Sachbuch über Hirnforschung oder eine belächelnde Darstellung des Themas aus Sicht der Wissenschaft. Hier tritt der Direktor des Max-Planck-Instituts für Hirnforschung, Wolf Singer mit dem Molekularbiologen Matthieu Ricard in einen spannenden und äußerst informativen Dialog. Matthieu Ricard ist nun buddhistischer Mönch und lebt seit 35 Jahren im Himalaja. Allein dieser Aspekt lässt einen schon aufhorchen. Das Buch ist mit 134 Seiten relativ dünn und enthält dennoch geballtes Wissen. Die Sätze könnten teilweise etwas kürzer und weniger verschachtelt sein damit der Leser besser folgen kann. In Anbetracht der Komplexität bestimmter Zusammenhänge ist das Buch dennoch verständlich und sehr erkenntnisbereichernd.
Wer sich noch intensiver mit der Materie auseinandersetzen will, dem kann ich dieses Buch definitiv als Ausgangspunkt empfehlen. Wer die vorgefasste Meinung hatte: "alles esoterischer Quatsch" bekommt einen Aha-Effekt und wird nach diesem Buch anders denken.
Wer schon immer überzeugt war, dass Meditation "funktioniert" und versucht hat auch dieses seinem Umfeld klar zu machen, bekommt konkrete Argumentationshilfe.
Mein Fazit: Lest dieses Buch!
Über diesen Link könnt ihr diese Ausgabe direkt kaufen: https://amzn.to/2OeFYQC
Wer sich noch intensiver mit der Materie auseinandersetzen will, dem kann ich dieses Buch definitiv als Ausgangspunkt empfehlen. Wer die vorgefasste Meinung hatte: "alles esoterischer Quatsch" bekommt einen Aha-Effekt und wird nach diesem Buch anders denken.
Wer schon immer überzeugt war, dass Meditation "funktioniert" und versucht hat auch dieses seinem Umfeld klar zu machen, bekommt konkrete Argumentationshilfe.
Mein Fazit: Lest dieses Buch!
Über diesen Link könnt ihr diese Ausgabe direkt kaufen: https://amzn.to/2OeFYQC
November 7, 2024
Es war ziemlich lehreich, vorallem für Leute, die die Wissenschaft hinter Meditieren verstehen wollen und sich nicht nur an die westlichen Vorstellung von Meditation orientieren möchten. Allerding hat es mir bisschen an Tiefe gefehlt und oft war es kein Dialog, sondern Monolog mit Zustimmung des anderen. Die Themenübergänge fand ich manchmal nicht so geschickt.
October 29, 2021
Meinen Koffer vor den Ferien verloren und schnellstens eine Ersatzlektüre benötigt habe ich dieses Büchlein in einem Bücherschrank gefunden. Spannend! Ich habe nicht ganz alles verstanden (vor allem seitens Wolf Singer) aber vieles gelernt. Mich würde wundernehmen was sich seit der Publikation verändert hat in der Forschung zum Thema.
April 16, 2020
Hätte es gern noch ein bisschen tiefer gehabt und ein paar Fragen wurden offen gelassen, aber trotzdem ein super tolles kleines Büchlein. Ich habe einiges gelernt.
September 13, 2023
Mein liebstes Buch über Meditation.
Wissenschaftliche Betrachtung, die auf philosophische Konzepte trifft.
Wissenschaftliche Betrachtung, die auf philosophische Konzepte trifft.
November 8, 2012
I call this one of my most valued books. Why ? Because in it's brief manner, this book tells almost everything that is needed to be known about meditation and its value to everyones life.
The authors Wolf Singer and Mattheu Ricard discuss the term and the process of meditation and it's misinterpretations, like apathy or laziness.
The dialogue is structered in that way, that either the neuroscientist Singer or the long-term monk and meditator Ricard share their experiences with meditation and the other person adds their experiences. Of course Ricards view is rather based on experience and Singers on indication, deduction and scientific measurements
They both see meditation as a process of self-mastery.
Whith mediation you evolve a whole set of skills, which is so very basic and useful in everyday life but developed by so few :
Sensory Acuity
A great deal of sensory sharpness is needed to differenciate between our daily hallucinations, distortions and the simple what-is.
The longer one meditates, the more he masters his ability to perceive ones interior and exterior environment unbiased and with greater sharpness. Many of our world views are built upon assumptions and interpretated might-bes, as well as our own inner conflicts and values.
Free Will
Many philosophers and average people ponder about the free will, whether it is there or not. The authors see the free will as a potential skill.
But is has to be trained. Free will means to chose our action and that what we are. But don't believe to lift the heavy weights of life if your mind is not trained as the strong muscle it could be.
Emotions
Experienced meditators tell about their ability to evoke in themselves any desired state of feeling within a short span of 30 seconds. Can you belief what that means ? To live free of any anxieties, hate or boredom ? Many people don't, for they never experienced their ability to actually create their feelings.
Also advanced meditators develop a higher senisibility for their internal states, which enables them to release bad thoughts before they become those overwhelming bursts of unwanted emotions.
Problem Solving Abilities
Yes, meditation enables the person to stay calm in stressing situations and activates those braincells which are connected with problem solving abilities, which means people get to move their asses and actually do something about their life situation.
Their are other discussed skills and topics like focus, memory, compassion ( to feel what the other person is feeling), drugs and their effect on the brains, meditation for children ?, distinction between problem-explanation and problem-solving, attentional blink, trainable capacity of ones attention and so on.
The book contains a light-hearted but serios-meant plea to everyone to actually DO meditation, to build up their own treasure trove of EXPERIENCE about meditation's advantages.
Are YOU willing to spend 30 Minutes a day to gain such sound skills and improvements in quality of life ?
This book is spiritual not religious, which means it pleas for one OWN experience not the ones of priests and popes or other cults.
But really, besides this passion to take action, the connections between state-of-the-art science and experience of thousands of people during thousands of years of actual meditation is both exciting and fun to read.
As for myself I do not consider myself as a master of meditation, but one who enjoys a gain in all those above declared skills and a set of OWN experiences and abilities to shape my innter and outer life, through a steady practice of meditation and mental rehersals like imagination. I can really entrust you to that little but blasting book.
I have read this book more thoroughly, marked more words in it than in any other book and even created my own table of contents for a reason.
The authors Wolf Singer and Mattheu Ricard discuss the term and the process of meditation and it's misinterpretations, like apathy or laziness.
The dialogue is structered in that way, that either the neuroscientist Singer or the long-term monk and meditator Ricard share their experiences with meditation and the other person adds their experiences. Of course Ricards view is rather based on experience and Singers on indication, deduction and scientific measurements
They both see meditation as a process of self-mastery.
Whith mediation you evolve a whole set of skills, which is so very basic and useful in everyday life but developed by so few :
Sensory Acuity
A great deal of sensory sharpness is needed to differenciate between our daily hallucinations, distortions and the simple what-is.
The longer one meditates, the more he masters his ability to perceive ones interior and exterior environment unbiased and with greater sharpness. Many of our world views are built upon assumptions and interpretated might-bes, as well as our own inner conflicts and values.
Free Will
Many philosophers and average people ponder about the free will, whether it is there or not. The authors see the free will as a potential skill.
But is has to be trained. Free will means to chose our action and that what we are. But don't believe to lift the heavy weights of life if your mind is not trained as the strong muscle it could be.
Emotions
Experienced meditators tell about their ability to evoke in themselves any desired state of feeling within a short span of 30 seconds. Can you belief what that means ? To live free of any anxieties, hate or boredom ? Many people don't, for they never experienced their ability to actually create their feelings.
Also advanced meditators develop a higher senisibility for their internal states, which enables them to release bad thoughts before they become those overwhelming bursts of unwanted emotions.
Problem Solving Abilities
Yes, meditation enables the person to stay calm in stressing situations and activates those braincells which are connected with problem solving abilities, which means people get to move their asses and actually do something about their life situation.
Their are other discussed skills and topics like focus, memory, compassion ( to feel what the other person is feeling), drugs and their effect on the brains, meditation for children ?, distinction between problem-explanation and problem-solving, attentional blink, trainable capacity of ones attention and so on.
The book contains a light-hearted but serios-meant plea to everyone to actually DO meditation, to build up their own treasure trove of EXPERIENCE about meditation's advantages.
Are YOU willing to spend 30 Minutes a day to gain such sound skills and improvements in quality of life ?
This book is spiritual not religious, which means it pleas for one OWN experience not the ones of priests and popes or other cults.
But really, besides this passion to take action, the connections between state-of-the-art science and experience of thousands of people during thousands of years of actual meditation is both exciting and fun to read.
As for myself I do not consider myself as a master of meditation, but one who enjoys a gain in all those above declared skills and a set of OWN experiences and abilities to shape my innter and outer life, through a steady practice of meditation and mental rehersals like imagination. I can really entrust you to that little but blasting book.
I have read this book more thoroughly, marked more words in it than in any other book and even created my own table of contents for a reason.
January 21, 2011
Interesting short read. The discussion of neurobiology is insightful, but at times there is no real dialogue taking place: Both participants go into long monologues exposing their worldviews. While these are not boring, they are of limited use. The perspective of "the meditator" (an identification with what is experienced as "the person meditating") is never left or questioned.
November 29, 2011
Manchmal wird aneinander vorbeigeredet, aber ansonsten ist es ein sehr interessantes Gespräch mit vielen Ideen für die Forschung, weshalb es schön meinen Forschergeist entfacht hat!
Und es überzeugt hinsichtlich der Idee, dringend Meditation zu lernen.
Und es überzeugt hinsichtlich der Idee, dringend Meditation zu lernen.
January 18, 2015
Not bad, I found "Quantum and Lotus" much more interesting though. It kind of cuts off abruptly at page 133, would have been nice to go deeper.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews