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<\/a><\/p>\nI love Sam Harris<\/strong>, but I cringe every time he says something about Buddhism, meditation, or that feudal dictator known as the Dalai Lama<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Going through his blog, I ran into two guided meditations<\/a> Harris posted, along with this:<\/p>\n There is nothing spooky or irrational about mindfulness, and the literature on its psychological benefits is now substantial<\/strong>.<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n Developing this quality of mind has been shown to<\/strong> reduce pain, anxiety, and depression; improve cognitive function; and even produce changes in gray matter density in regions of the brain<\/strong> related to learning and memory, emotional regulation, and self-awareness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Wow, that sounds a lot like… quackery<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Despite Harris saying there’s “substantial (scientific) literature”, and that these effects “have been shown”, he fails to link to a single peer-reviewed paper<\/strong>, published by a magazine with\u00a0extensive background to support his claims. I know he says he’ll cover all the science (!) on his book, but a single link wouldn’t kill him, right?<\/p>\n And then it comes the “changes in gray matter density in regions of the brain” claim<\/strong>. As far as I know, what have been linked to meditation is having thicker cortical areas<\/a>, but those studies fail to define\u00a0meditation in an objectively measurable way,\u00a0and they\u00a0established a correlation<\/em>; and as we all know,\u00a0correlation doesn’t imply causation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n