Of course it is! Is it not dangerous to step out of line with the usual run of things? Is it not dangerous to pay attention to reality rather than find ways of avoiding it? Is it not dangerous to wake up?
There have been recent reports about the difficulties that can arise for people who are practising meditation and these difficulties are real. If you are not used to spending time in silence, it is quite possible that serious unresolved issues will come to the surface. Our mind has successful strategies for 'parking' difficult things so that we do not constantly have to face them. This is a useful defensive mechanism but it is not a long term solution to these difficult things. On a slightly lower level, we may simply become mroe aware of ongoing agitations that we had not been aware of before. Another problem that can arise is a sense of disorientation, particularly if one is spending long periods of time in silence. If the usual constructions of our mind are absent for a time - the perceptions, self-descriptions and internal narratives - then we can find ourselves feeling a little at sea.
These experiences are natural and, though not everyone will experience them, it is important that those who are practising meditation regularly and for long perdiods of time have access to someone with experience and a good understanding of what is happening in meditation. Such a person would be able to suggest ways of addressing those unresolved issues, perhaps by pointing to a trained counsellor, and might suggest adjustments to the practice where necessary. I would say that religious traditions of meditation and prayer have significant resources to offer in this regard both from the point of view of centuries of experience and from the point of view of offering a conceptual framework for our experiences. It really does help most of us to have some sense of how our experiences fit into our broader sense of reality.
There is one further danger involved in undertaking the adventure of meditation. One might meet God. And this is a danger for the theist as much as for the atheist because the God who meets us might bear little resemblance to the God we imagine. It may be that the God we meet in silence is more silent than we had thought, or more free, or less distant, or more challenging, or more ineffable. In any case, we should not undertake the practice of regular meditation unless we are prepared to be changed. I think that is a danger worth facing.
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