The Alert Collector: Sources to Ponder: Developing a Meditation Collection

Abstract

Meditation practices date back thousands of years to the forest-dwelling rishis of Asia who viewed it as a way to achieve spiritual growth leading to enlightenment. Meditation has today become an increasingly popular practice in mainstream western culture. News media continually churn out stories about the latest scientific results showing the physical, mental, and social benefits of meditating. Celebrities and athletes from the Beatles to David Lynch to LeBron James talk about how meditation has influenced their life and work. Meditation is practiced in corporations and boardrooms and is used in military training programs. Meditation has become commodified and commercialized, with meditation studios springing up in major cities, books about meditation hitting bestseller lists, and Silicon Valley engineers producing meditation apps by the dozens.