I usually live in seclusion
but sometimes I go to Kuoching
to call on the Venerable Feng-kan (pickup)
or to visit master Shih-te (big stick)
but I go back to Cold Cliff alone
observing an unspoken agreement
I follow a stream that has no spring
the spring is dry but not the stream
1. I wonder if amygdala responses in meditators would be similar. The Nautilus article mentions the control of his prefrontal cortex as a possible way he mediates the amygdala's response, and meditation often shows modulation in PFC activity. As a meditator, I also have a strange lack of fear response—for example, it's almost impossible to startle me.
2,3 I have only climbed a few times, and I too felt an unspeakable relationship with the rock itself that I have rarely felt while doing anything. The closest I can relate it to is indeed a deep meditative state, but one that comes with motion. Totally understand these points.