Self-Boundary Dissolution in Meditation: A Phenomenological Investigation.
Brain sciences – June 21, 2021
Source: PubMed
Summary
Deep meditative states can lead to a significant dissolution of the sense of self, characterized by changes in location, agency, and first-person perspective. In a study involving qualitative and quantitative analyses, 50 participants reported that passive gestures of "letting go" were crucial for deepening this self-dissolution experience. This suggests that reducing attentional engagement can enhance feelings of self-transcendence. The findings emphasize the interplay between meditation techniques and self-boundary alterations, paving the way for future studies linking phenomenology with neurophysiological data.
Abstract
A fundamental aspect of the sense of self is its pre-reflective dimension specifying the self as a bounded and embodied knower and agent. Being a constant and tacit feature structuring consciousness, it eludes robust empirical exploration. Recently, deep meditative states involving global dissolution of the sense of self have been suggested as a promising path for advancing such an investigation. To that end, we conducted a comprehensive phenomenological inquiry into meditative self-boundary alteration. The induced states were systematically characterized by changes in six experiential features including the sense of location, agency, first-person perspective, attention, body sensations, and affective valence, as well as their interaction with meditative technique and overall degree of dissolution. Quantitative analyses of the relationships between these phenomenological categories highlighted a unitary dimension of boundary dissolution. Notably, passive meditative gestures of "letting go", which reduce attentional engagement and sense of agency, emerged as driving the depth of dissolution. These findings are aligned with an enactive approach to the pre-reflective sense of self, linking its generation to sensorimotor activity and attention-demanding processes. Moreover, they set the stage for future phenomenologically informed analyses of neurophysiological data and highlight the utility of combining phenomenology and intense contemplative training for a scientific characterization of processes giving rise to the basic sense of being a bounded self.