The Benefits of Meditation
- Daniel Goleman
After observing that most methods of meditation were intended to foster concentration, Daniel Goleman wrote his first book, The Varieties of Meditative Experience published in 1977, and republished as The Meditative Mind, in which he describes different meditation systems.
Daniel Goleman really became a global refference in his field, when he authored the internationally best-selling book, Emotional Intelligence, published in 1995, that spent more than one year on the New York Times Best Seller list. In this book, he brought new concepts regarding emotional intelligence, offering to readers thoughts and advises regarding self-knowledge, better understanding of other people's attitudes, behaviours, and how to better interact with others.
Goleman was in on the first wave of research into the effects of meditation, having made a visit to India and having met some impressive yogis before returning to Harvard. Goleman has been ahead of the curve for a long time. This earlier parts of this book, he points out, first appeared at a time when the links between traditional Asian systems of mental training and modern psychological science were few and far between. They are of course far more common now, with an explosion of research having taken place over the last two decades in particular.
To take account of at least some of these developments, new material has been added, detailing some of the history of the encounter between meditation, on the one hand, and science and psychotherapeutic traditions on the other.
The Meditative Mind book has five parts:
Part One: The Visuddhimagga: A Map for Inner Space
Part Two: Meditation Paths: A Survey
Part Three: Meditation Paths: Their Essential Unity
Part Four: The Psychology of Meditation
Part Five: Meditation: Research and Practical Applications
"Powerful concentration amplifies the effectiveness of any kind of activity."- Daniel Goleman
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