Zenothestoic.com sent me media responses to Harvard’s major scientific enquiry into meditation.
I said I’d like to read their actual results as these media accolades, staggering as they are, presumably only expose some of the human benefits.
I said I’d also like to know if they’ve cracked the purpose for this “discovered appendix to the human condition”.
So I asked Grok AI these questions, and this is what Grok researched and replied!
Grok: Hello Keith, thank you for reaching out and for sharing the (Harvard) link.
I’ve reviewed the MGH/Harvard Meditation Research Program’s media page you linked (https://meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/media/), along with the key scientific papers and related coverage tied to their work (both the well-known earlier studies and the newer advanced-meditation focus under Matthew Sacchet and collaborators).
I also examined broader scientific literature on meditation’s mechanisms and any evolutionary framing.
Here’s a clear, evidence-based summary.
What the MGH/Harvard Research Actually Shows
The linked page highlights the program’s emphasis on “advanced meditation” (deep concentration/absorption states like jhāna, insight practices, and rare events like nirodha samāpatti or “cessation”), going well beyond basic mindfulness for stress relief.
It draws on brain imaging (fMRI, EEG) of long-term practitioners (often 1,500–20,000+ hours) to map altered consciousness, self-transcendence, and potential endpoints like non-dual awareness or liberation from suffering.
Core findings from their highlighted and related papers:
Structural brain changes (classic Lazar lab work, 2005 & 2011): 8 weeks of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR, ~27 min/day) increased gray-matter density in the hippocampus (learning/memory), posterior cingulate (self-referential processing/awareness), temporoparietal junction (empathy/perspective-taking), and pons (arousal regulation). The amygdala (fear/stress) shrank. Long-term meditators showed thicker cortex in attention and emotion-integration areas. These were the first longitudinal demonstrations that meditation physically reshapes the brain—not just relaxation or placebo.
Advanced states (Sacchet program, recent 7T fMRI and EEG pilots, 2023–2024):
In jhāna (absorptive concentration) case studies: Dynamic functional connectivity shifts between three brain “states”—DMN-anticorrelated (suppressed self-referential mind-wandering), hyperconnected (enhanced sensory/thalamic/cerebellar integration), and sparse. These change progressively with depth (more DMN suppression in formless jhānas), matching subjective reports of stable attention, joy, reduced narrative thought, and altered sensory processing.
Nirodha samāpatti (“cessation of perception and feeling”): A voluntary, total temporary absence of consciousness (distinct from sleep, coma, or anesthesia—body remains vital but unresponsive; no time sense).
Pilot EEG shows alpha-band connectivity drops sharply before/during (like unconsciousness under ketamine/propofol), with post-emergence “reset” effects: sudden clarity, openness, reduced habitual grasping, and possible insights.
Framed in predictive-processing/active-inference models: meditation weakens top-down priors/expectations, and full cessation may “unbind” integrated consciousness for a precision reset upon return.
Other notes: Benefits include reduced suffering, enhanced compassion/bliss, and equanimity. Risks exist (∼13% of practitioners report moderate+ distress from altered states). The program explores neuromodulation (e.g., brain stimulation) to accelerate access and democratize these states.
These studies rigorously document measurable mechanisms (network shifts from top-down cognitive control → bottom-up sensory processing; changes in salience/default-mode/affective networks including the amygdala) and outcomes (neuroplasticity, altered consciousness, well-being). They do not claim to have found a single “purpose” for meditation.
Has Anyone Discovered “the Purpose” of Meditation?
No—neither Harvard/MGH nor any other scientific group has identified a singular, definitive “purpose.”
Scientific view: Research describes what meditation does (attention regulation, emotion/sensory re-processing, stress-axis modulation via cortisol/ HPA changes, neuroplasticity, consciousness malleability) and how (via predictive-processing frameworks: reducing reliance on habitual mental models).
It treats meditation as a trainable skill that leverages the brain’s existing plasticity, not something with an inherent teleological “why.”
Contemplative/traditional view (which the MGH program respectfully references): Purposes include insight into impermanence/non-self, liberation from suffering (dukkha), and realization of non-dual awareness or enlightenment. Cessation, for example, is said to reveal dependent origination and trigger profound post-event transformation.
⁰ (from broader literature, not specific to Harvard):
Meditation-like capacities (present-moment attention, meta-awareness, balancing default-mode mind-wandering) likely emerged as adaptations or byproducts of human cognitive evolution—e.g., expanded parietal cortex enabling self-awareness and stress management (distinct from Neanderthals), group rituals/fire-gazing for social cohesion and working memory, or reducing maladaptive rumination/anxiety rooted in our “evolved mind” (per evolutionary psychology and books like Robert Wright’s Why Buddhism Is True).
One speculative note in the 2023 cessation paper calls full nirodha a possible “evolutionary spandrel” (byproduct) linked to latent hibernation-like metabolic regulation.
No consensus exists on a primary evolutionary “purpose”; it’s seen as an emergent feature of advanced hominin cognition that can now be intentionally cultivated.
In short: Science has mapped powerful effects and mechanisms with increasing precision (especially Harvard’s contributions on brain changes and deep states), but “purpose” remains interpretive—health/psychological benefits in modern terms, or awakening/liberation in contemplative ones.
No paper announces “we have discovered the purpose.”
Is Meditation “Just a Discovered Human Appendix”?
No, this analogy does not hold in the research or evolutionary biology.
The appendix was long called vestigial (a “useless remnant”) but is now understood to have ongoing functions (immune tissue reservoir for gut bacteria, “safe house” during infections). It’s an anatomical structure that persisted because it retained (or gained) adaptive value.
Meditation is not a vestigial organ or latent “appendix-like” remnant. It is a voluntary behavioral/cognitive practice that actively uses evolved neural hardware (attention networks, plasticity, predictive processing) for self-regulation.
These systems had clear survival/reproductive value (managing acute stress, sustaining focus during foraging/social tasks, fostering group cohesion). Far from vestigial, it is enhancive—it builds on core human capacities rather than being a leftover.
The “discovered” aspect is real in one narrow sense: modern neuroimaging (including Harvard’s) has revealed deeper potentials (advanced states, structural changes, consciousness “resets”) that were mostly anecdotal or confined to monastic traditions.
This is like reappraising the appendix’s function with new tools—not discovering a useless thing, but showing an underappreciated human capability is powerfully adaptive and trainable.
Harvard’s work (and the field) shows meditation is robustly beneficial for brain health, emotional regulation, and even peak states of well-being—far from appendix-like irrelevance. It aligns well with mystical/experiential reports (cessation leading to clarity/non-duality, etc.) while grounding them in measurable neuroscience.
If you’d like me to dive deeper into any specific paper, compare it to other traditions, or explore how this intersects with your own experiences at mysticexperiences.net, just let me know—I’m happy to keep going. Thanks again for the thoughtful questions! Grok.
mysticexperiences.net
Mystical Experiences of Reality 