Modeling non-dual awareness via constraint closure: a reinterpretation of groundlessness.
Neuroscience of consciousness January 1, 2026 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1093/nc/niaf068 via PubMed
Summary
Non-dual awareness (NDA) is described as a shift in consciousness where the distinction between subject and object dissolves, leading to an experience that is not mediated by concepts or goals. The article argues that autonomy in this context can be better understood through the concept of constraint closure, which emphasizes the ongoing transformation of relational conditions rather than fixed structures. This perspective aligns with Nāgārjuna's analysis of dependent origination, suggesting that cognition and awareness are maintained through dynamic interdependent relations.
Study at a glance
| Key finding | NDA corresponds to a shift from decoupled to precarious constraints, indicating that cognition and awareness persist through the dynamic regeneration of interdependent relations. |
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Abstract
Non-dual awareness (NDA) refers to a shift in consciousness in which the usual distinction between subject and object dissolves, and experience is no longer structured by conceptual mediation or goal-directed regulation. Meling enactivist model describes NDA as a meditative disclosure of groundlessness-the recognition of emptiness (śūnyatā), that all phenomena lack intrinsic nature. While enactivism explains autonomy through process closure, this article argues that constraint closure, as developed by Nave, extends that framework by making explicit how autonomy is sustained through the continual regeneration of its own relational conditions. This refinement prevents process-closure models from being read in substantialist terms when applied to complex cognitive systems, where stability arises through ongoing transformation rather than fixed organization. Nave's account builds on Juarrero theory of constraint causality, which replaces intrinsic forces with relational conditions-a view that parallels Nāgārjuna's Madhyamaka analysis of dependent origination. Integrating these perspectives, I propose that NDA corresponds to a shift from decoupled to precarious constraints, revealing that cognition and awareness persist not through intrinsic foundations but through the dynamic regeneration of interdependent relations.