Minimal states of awareness across sleep and wakefulness: A multidimensional framework to guide scientific research
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences December 10, 2024 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.33735/phimisci.2024.10233 via OpenAlex
Summary
A new multidimensional framework is proposed to study altered states of consciousness that are perceived as having little or no content. This framework identifies dimensions such as Richness of the Content and Attentional Focus to better understand experiences of minimal awareness. The framework's utility is demonstrated through a case study on clear light sleep, a state recognized in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism as pure awareness during sleep, which is increasingly relevant in contemporary discussions about consciousness.
Study at a glance
| Design | case study |
|---|---|
| Population | experiences of altered states of consciousness, specifically clear light sleep |
| Key finding | The framework enhances understanding of minimal awareness experiences and situates clear light sleep within a multidimensional state space. |
Abstract
I introduce a novel multidimensional framework tailored to investigate a set of phenomena that might appear intractable and render them amenable to scientific inquiry. In particular, I focus on examining altered states of consciousness that appear to the experiencing subject as “contentless” or “objectless” states in some form, either by having disrupted or reduced content of awareness, or content that appears as missing altogether. By drawing on empirical research, I propose a cluster of phenomenological dimensions aimed at enhancing our understanding of this group of experiences of minimal awareness, including Richness of the Content, Bodily-Awareness, Passage of Time, Attentional Focus, and Self-Revelation. The result is a robust framework that provides precise scientific terminology, facilitating its operationalisation and adaptability for future empirical work. I show the explanatory power of this framework through a case study of the state of clear light sleep—a state widely reported by Indo-Tibetan Buddhist traditions as an instance of pure awareness during sleep, a state of consciousness-as-such. This rare phenomenon has gained increasing attention in contemporary analytic philosophy of mind for the study of the nature of consciousness. However, we still lack consensus on its characterisation and potential identity with other associated states. I end the paper by illustrating how the state of clear light sleep can be situated in relation to other associated states and more ordinary ones as regions of a multidimensional state space.