> A Buddhist teacher once explained to me that one of the expected effects of certain kinds of meditation was a growing sense that the world is insubstantial, as if it were made of tissue-paper that you could stick your finger through.
This is called "emptiness", and the second level "but actually it's all real too" is supposed to add up to something called "non-duality". Buddhists historically spend a lot of time arguing with each other about how exactly it works.
The practical upshot is supposed to be that you can look at a statement about yourself like "I have depression" and realize that it is empty of independent existence ie that you're the one doing it to yourself, and this may possibly make it go away.
If you do this too hard you then realize you don't exist and also go away.
This is called "emptiness", and the second level "but actually it's all real too" is supposed to add up to something called "non-duality". Buddhists historically spend a lot of time arguing with each other about how exactly it works.
The practical upshot is supposed to be that you can look at a statement about yourself like "I have depression" and realize that it is empty of independent existence ie that you're the one doing it to yourself, and this may possibly make it go away.
If you do this too hard you then realize you don't exist and also go away.