Buddhism and the Shock Doctrine.

Another thing that struck me while I was reading about the experiments performed at McGill University was the connection between some of these techniques and Buddhist practices. Some of the principal methods employed by the McGill researchers to disrupt their participants sense of identity have Buddhist homologues. Thus, at McGill participants were often kept in isolation chambers that restricted noise and light, as well as the ability of the subject to touch her/himself (this was achieved by putting cardboard over the subject's arms). Furthermore, the psychiatrists would often change the clocks and mealtimes in order to disrupt the subject's sense of time. The ultimate end goal of these techniques was to destroy the subject's sense of space-time, upon which their identity was found to be heavily dependent.

In Buddhist meditation, and particular during intensive meditation retreats (sesshin), similar techniques are employed although they are far more benign in nature. External sensory stimuli intake is limited in Buddhist meditation by sitting still with one's eyes closed in a relatively calm (silent) environment. This not only limits the meditator's perception of her/his surroundings, but also their sense of self (they sit still, so as not to touch or see their own bodies). During intensive meditation retreats, these techniques are enhanced by eliminating words (either spoken or written) altogether (with the exception of meditation chants used during liturgy. Meditators also refrain from looking at one anothers faces, particularly into eachothers eyes, to further weaken their own sense of identity. Again, all these techinques are (explicitly) designed to weaken the meditator's sense of independence from the world. Coincidentally, I have found that these techniques also increase the frequency of what might be called 'ecstatic' experiences - feelings of pure bliss, felt-pysical dissolution of the body, shimmering sensations, etc - just as sensory deprivation at McGill introduced odd "halucinations" in patients.*

One element that seems particularly important is that mediation periods and entire retreats are very rigidly scheduled in Buddhism. In this way, the meditation, while perhaps personally losing some sense of time, feels secure in the rhythm of the schedule. Although the meditator's sense of space-time is often uneven - time can seem to fly or remain nearly static - this disruption of time is not unpleasant. The rigid schedule of the buddhist retreat may be an extremely important element that creates a positive experience of selflessness rather than a horrible sense of lost personality.

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*I haven't read descriptions of these halucinations, but I imagine that they are quite qualitatively different from those experienced during meditation, which have been [in my experience] generally pleasant. Part of this may be because the meditator in some fashion consents to the lack of control, while this is forced upon the psychiatric subject. It seems to me that forced loss of control would result in great anxiety, claustrophobia, etc. (Meditators can also experience these sensations when "on the edge" of releasing some degree of control.)