[tonymet]

Meditation and "thinking about nothing" are glamorized self-centeredness. Try thinking about "nothing" and you'll come to realize that you are just thinking about yourself, your feelings, your anxiety (and attempts to alleviate it), your need to escape from others, etc.

What brought you to meditation in the first place? Stress, anxiety, resentment, insecurity. Instead of reconciliation, meditation brings more isolation and brooding.

Meditation is narcissistic.

[javier123454321]

I'll grant you this. Meditation in the modern secular context which is devoid of its philosophical undercurrent, done in absence of an experienced teacher that has achieved the goal can lead to the pitfalls you describe.

Meditation is a tool, and it can be pointed to many aims. Without the right aims, it can lead you to reinforce things you don't want to like you describe. It can also lead you to dissociate, or to exacerbate latent neurosis. However, it can also be a life affirming method for being more present and less hung up on the vicissitudes of the anxiety producing nature of an impermanent world. It takes wisdom to use it for the latter.

[tonymet]

I agree. I am referring to "pop" meditation, "mindfulness", clinical meditation, what you get at workplaces -- i.e. the "thinking about nothing" meditation promoted by this webpage.

I'm calling attention to value, virtue, beauty, etc. Someone who is telling you that prayer is bad while meditation is good, or that religion is bad while secular mindfulness is good -- they are telling you to focus on yourself instead of something or someone else.