From the Leri FAQ:
"Metaprogramming is becoming aware that you have been programmed
already. That your beliefs and values are simply ideas that have been
programmed into your brain and nervous system. It is taking charge of
and RE-programming yourself! A most excellent experience."
Dr. John Lilly first coined the term
metaprogramming in his seminal work, Programming and Metaprogramming
the Human Biocomputer. Lilly was an avid explorer of altered states
of consciousness, working with various combinations of isolation,
LSD and ketamine explorations, and various mental disciplines. He
proposed the notion that inasmuch as the brain can be considered the
hardware of the mind, the linguistic models that the brain uses to
interpret the world -- programs -- can be modified and refined at the
discretion of the metaprogrammer. As the psychedelic explosion began
to reverberate across America, Dr. Timothy Leary
grabbed hold of the concept, proposing that specific, disciplined
approaches to the psychedelic experience can be used to do such
metaprogramming.
Since then, metaprogramming has become an umbrella term for any
number of approaches to self-improvement/self-refinement. Altered
states of consciousness are often, but not always, a factor in
metaprogramming; similarly, although the psychedelic experience is
often linked to metaprogramming, thanks to Dr. Leary's
influence, it is by no means the only nor the "most important" method
for metaprogramming. For example, yogic disciplines, various
mystic practices and disciplines, shamanic traditions,
meditation, and many other consciously directed forms of
concentration are used and discussed on Leri with reference to
willful and positive metaprogramming.