The Spiral of Attention, Arousal, and Release: A Comparative Phenomenology of Jhāna Meditation and Speaking in Tongues.
American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council December 1, 2024 Josh Brahinsky, Jonas Mago, Mark Miller et al. 5 citations
Buddhist Jhāna meditation and Christian speaking in tongues, despite appearing very different, share key phenomenological features. Interviews with experienced practitioners in the USA reveal a dynamic interplay between focused attention, aroused joy, and a sense of letting go or release crucial to both practices. The paper theorizes that these shared features engage an autonomic field built through a spiral between attention, arousal, and release (AAR), analyzed through sensory gating and predictive processing theories of brain function.