Can Meditation Be Used For Evil?

Meditation has many uses, some of these uses go beyond what most would think of using meditation for. 

But could an unscrupulous individual use meditation for unethical purposes? To start off, meditation is a practice that brings the mind and body together and helps us be at peace. There’s nothing evil about that. 

When we ask ourselves whether meditation can be used for evil, there are two ways to interpret this question and the answer on whether it can be used for evil ultimately will depend. 

Meditation on its own can’t directly be used to cause harm to someone else, but it can indirectly if the subconscious is negatively affected, which in that sense, can be worse since the subconscious is more powerful than the conscious mind.  

The practice can also be used by an unethical individual to increase their focus on a said evil action and perform better at that. Meditation is available to anyone, and generally, a very safe practice with nothing to worry about, but sometimes it can be worth watching out for certain things.

Most won’t use meditation for evil, and in the end, meditation is more a tool than anything, to help us achieve certain things. 

However, there are some scenarios where certain meditation are used to induce not-so-good thoughts on an individual doing the meditation. 

Below I’ll outline some examples as to how meditation can be used for evil, and these examples aren’t exactly linked to one another, but while meditation is generally a fantastic practice, unfortunately, not everyone will use it for good or to better themselves. 

Keep in mind that these are some of the potential uses that meditation can be used for evil.

Cults

Cults are infamous for using various deceiving and manipulation techniques on their members. 

There are several ways to go about it, but a cult leader could get someone hooked on the idea of meditation, taking the fact that it’s a practice that can change your life for the better, make you do a certain meditation to feel good and ultimately make you dependent on them, because you feel that the feel-good feeling can only be induced by following someone that presented themselves as a guru, when they’re in reality a leader of a cult that gets you to obey. 

With the vast amount of benefits in meditation, it’s easy to end up falling in love with the practice and ultimately, being attached. 

Generally, attachment does have a negative connotation for a good reason, but there’s nothing wrong about being attached to meditation, so long as you don’t see meditation as a substitute for every problem in your day to day life, but more of as a practice assisting you through said problems. 

Another common thing cultists may be prone to is subconscious manipulation. It’s no secret that meditation can be used as a way to rewire the brain and steer the subconscious into a more positive direction.

But what happens if that same power isn’t used for your benefit, but to the benefit of someone else? 

That’s where meditation can be used for evil, if it induces thoughts to abstain, but the good feeling of the meditation makes up for the unethical part.  In theory, this could allow a cult leader to get a cultist to do things they normally wouldn’t do. 

Manipulation and Cheating

Believe it or not, individuals who want to do bad and do meditation for that said purpose exist. Especially as outlined by the example I gave of cult leaders. But it doesn’t have to go as far as cults. 

Keep in mind that meditation makes you calmer, but this calmness in the wrong hands can be a double edge sword. Being calm allows someone to be more calculative, and generally when we think of someone cold and calculating, evil comes to mind. 

In that sense, because meditation improves our ability to focus and remain calm, bad actors can use this as a way to get better at manipulation. While we can’t entirely control our emotions, meditation does give us an advantage when it comes to that. 

While meditating, we’re taught to let any thoughts we have flow, whether they be negative or positive. The more we fight these thoughts, the more they persist. 

So in theory, someone with some of these more unethical habits such as manipulation, cheating or lying can be better at that, especially if they don’t see meditation as a mechanism for personal growth, but rather as a self-serving practice. 

Many would tend to get nervous when they’re aware that they’re cheating or manipulating someone, and that’s the correlation between being in greater control of your emotions and meditation. In the end, where you put your attention, it will grow. 

Meditation helps you let go of attachment, even if you can become attached to the practice of meditation itself and not in a bad way, but more as in being eager to up yourself, even if upping yourself were to be pointed in a negative direction.

Egotism

Wouldn’t it be ironic to put meditation and egotism in the same sentence? Generally, meditation is used as a way to have an ego-death. 

And generally, letting go of attachment. But there are some drawbacks to having an ego death. 

Some would argue the ego is evil while others not. But the ego can actually be used to your advantage, whether it be for good or for bad. 

Meditation gives you more control of your ego, in that it makes it easier for you to let go of things. But with more control of your ego, you can choose where you put that energy to. 

I include ego because of the infamy ego has and the reputation for evil. But in a way, using meditation to control your ego can be a great thing, especially if you don’t use it to hurt anyone else. The ego will always be there until you do an ego death meditation. 

But if you want to become a high achiever, you can use your ego to make yourself feel good about meditation, and stick with it. 

Ultimately, this can be a challenging part for beginners trying to get in. But ego is helpful in the sense that it can make you feel accomplished. 

With meditation, in my experience, you can take out that part and cut out the rest when it comes to ego. 

Carry with you the part that makes you feel accomplished, whether it be increased focus, memory, or any other aspect that improves your life. 

In that sense, you could use a part that many would see as “evil” and use it to your benefit, without necessarily hurting anyone in the process. 

Does Meditation Make You a Better Person?

Meditation can help you turn into a good person if you want it to. Especially considering that one of the aspects meditation improves is our ability to feel empathy, closer to nature, and a deeper spiritual connection within. 

In that sense, you could say meditation could turn you into a better person, but only if you want to. Your meditation can be very goal-oriented. One thing is certain, and it’s that you’re likely to have a deep sense of peace and calmness. 

Use meditation as you will, it generally has almost every flavor you’re looking for when it comes to improving things in your life. But if you come into meditation with a self-serving mindset, rather than growth, it isn’t as likely to turn you into a better person. 

But you’re unlikely to turn evil for meditating, even if those opposing meditation see the practice as something evil. In reality, meditation has nothing evil in it. It’s just a means for our spiritual development that can go in any direction. More often than not, it’s a positive direction.