Religions
December 26, 2023
Yixuan Liu
1 citation
A comparison of the six stages of spirituality in medieval Christian mysticism, as proposed by Bonaventure, with the six-fold sādhana of Advaita Vedānta, as taught by Śaṅkara, reveals both similarities and differences in the pursuit of ultimate reality. Bonaventure's stages—Sense, Imagination, Reason, Intelligence, Understanding, and Spark of Conscience—aim at unity with God, while Śaṅkara's practices—mind control, sense control, mental tranquility, endurance, potential faith, and concentration—seek unity of Brahman and Self. The comparison explores how medieval religious believers in both traditions desired ultimate reality and suggests possibilities for dialogue between Christianity and Advaita Vedānta.
Religions
October 25, 2023
Grzegorz Polak
1 citation
The pleasure of nibbāna, according to the Nibbānasukha-sutta, lies in experiencing nothing. This paper reconstructs the philosophical background of this counterintuitive claim by re-examining Nikāya passages and drawing on cognitive science and philosophy of mind. It argues that the five khandhas, especially viññāṇa, refer to consciousness with phenomenal, introspectable, reportable content that can be integrated into memory. Such consciousness is not constant; its low frequency in absorption or flow states contributes to their pleasurable nature and altered sense of time and self. The paper hypothesizes that the presence or absence of this consciousness relates to dukkha or sukha, with saṅkhāra playing a key role. It also discusses limits of introspection and non-introspectable pleasure, concluding that early Buddhist transformation involves no longer identifying with one's own consciousness.
Religions
September 11, 2023
Byongchang Kang
1 citation
Polarization, a pressing global issue, can be understood and addressed through the East Asian Buddhist teaching of the One Mind, as outlined in the Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith. The deluded and polarized mind arises from the human condition but is not separate from awakening. By recognizing the One Mind—the common foundation of equality and interconnectedness of all sentient beings—people can return to an original still and pure mind that perceives reality beyond discriminating thought. Cultivating mindfulness and awareness of the mind, along with recognizing fundamental interconnectedness, offers a solution to post-truth, epistemic bubbles, and echo chambers.
Religions
May 9, 2023
Giulio Osto
1 citation
Pietro Rossano, a key figure in 20th-century interreligious dialogue who served over twenty years in the Vatican office for this field, understood dialogue as having anthropological, theological, and mystical dimensions. His work, especially with Muslims in meetings like the 1976 Tripoli gathering, can be interpreted through the three keys of Spirit, Word, and Love, connecting the Bible, dialogical thought (notably Ferdinand Ebner), and Christian theology of dialogue.
Religions
January 6, 2023
Johannes Bronkhorst
1 citation
The article examines whether the Buddhist noble truths are actually true, using recent neuroscience and psychology, particularly Mark Solms's theory. It focuses on how memories shape personality and how memory reconsolidation could affect those memories, explaining how the cessation of suffering and desire are plausible. Access to relevant memories is a poorly understood process, and the author proposes ways it might be achieved.
Religions
December 21, 2022
Edward Howells
1 citation
John of the Cross holds that God is desire and that union with God involves a meeting of human and divine desire, yet his negative theology programmatically negates desire on the spiritual journey. He describes the lack of satisfaction of desire as darkness and emptiness, which is the main manifestation of desire during spiritual transformation. The apparent opposition between human and divine desire is resolved through a gradual uncovering of what lies beneath the presenting experience of desire in the soul's constitution as a subject. Desire is transformed, but this transformation can be affirmed only at the level of the subject's transformation.
Religions
June 23, 2022
John Michael Chase
1 citation
Drawing on Pierre Hadot's insights, this paper argues that while explicit discussions of breath control and psychosomatic techniques are absent in early Greek thought, analogous practices likely existed, possibly as early as Socrates. Evidence from Aristophanes and Plato suggests Socrates may have engaged in a two-stage meditative practice resembling Zen Buddhism: first, a top-down, egocentric focused meditation leading to sensory absorption, followed by a bottom-up, allocentric open meditation for a universal perspective. The paper also examines contemplative withdrawal in Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Evagrius Ponticus, and Gregory Palamas.
Religions
May 27, 2022
Brian D. Somers
1 citation
Modern mindfulness-based programs often adopt an individualistic, self-help perspective that may undermine their effectiveness for treating depression, which is partly caused by isolation. Buddhist mindfulness emphasizes interdependent origination (緣起) and community (the sangha as one of the three jewels), defining salvation as the liberation of all beings from suffering. This thesis argues that mindfulness practices framed as a personal, goal-oriented project risk isolating practitioners, especially those already secluded in a private world of self-improvement. A Buddhist interpretation that highlights interdependence and community is therefore desirable for addressing depression.
Religions
April 7, 2022
1 citation
Religious experiences, though culturally widespread and grounded in research, are often dismissed as culturally biased or psychologically misleading. This paper does not argue for their truth or falsity but offers an autoethnographic account of how such experiences have functioned in the author's life. Three forms are described narratively: early Charismatic experience, synchronous encounters, and psilocybin exploration. The author suggests these experiences are broadly shared and can be personally and socially transformative, situating each within its originating context.
Religions
January 23, 2022
Jennifer Carmichael
1 citation
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a decline in empathy for others and the planet, driven by a dualistic mind-body conception and capitalist consumerism that reifies a fixed self. This paper argues that Nagarjuna's Buddhist concept of emptiness, from the Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, combined with mindful observation of bodily experience, reveals the self as a web of interacting processes within a larger web. This understanding undermines the notion of an inherent self and situates the conventional self as interrelated with the world, facilitating a shift toward empathy. The paper suggests this approach can aid recovery from the pandemic and help build a more empathetic global community.
Religions
January 17, 2022
Martin Vašek, Andrea Blaščíková, Rastislav Nemec
1 citation
The Czech theologian and philosopher Karel Říha (1923–2016) developed a metaphysics grounded in triadic thinking—knowledge, wanting, and Being—influenced by Maurice Blondel. He argued that moral conversion is a mystical transformation where individuals find themselves through devotion to others, achieving the goal of metaphysics based on interpersonal relationships. In this process, metaphysics eliminates itself and integrates into theology, which concludes that truth pursues us rather than being in our power. Říha united himself with a Will whose direction and demands are unknown, leaving nothing of his own. His work merges metaphysics and mysticism.
Religions
September 14, 2021
S. Medhananda
1 citation
Aurobindo's philosophy of 'realistic Adwaita' criticizes classical Advaita Vedānta on experiential, philosophical, and scriptural grounds. He argues that Śaṅkara's Advaita is based on a genuine but partial experience of the Divine as an impersonal Absolute, whereas a further stage of spiritual experience reveals the Divine Saccidānanda as both impersonal and personal, dynamic Consciousness-Force manifesting as the universe. Philosophically, Aurobindo questions Advaita doctrines of māyā, the exclusively impersonal Brahman, and illusory bondage and liberation. Scripturally, he contends that ancient Vedic texts teach an all-encompassing, world-affirming Advaita, not Śaṅkara's world-denying version. The article also explores implications of this life-affirming philosophy for ecological crisis.
Religions
October 26, 2020
Lee Irwin
1 citation
Dreams can be categorized into four distinct types—normative-rational, mythic-imaginal, psychic-intuitive, and supernal-transpersonal—each with different metaphysical and ontological significance. Supernal dreaming, a profound and participatory revelatory type, engages the dreamer in a visionary capacity that can lead to new enactive and embodied ways of life. Drawing on the author's extensive dream journal, the article develops a typological approach to dream analysis, placing dream morphology within a metatheory based on agency and a sentient, process-based cosmology. Dreams are presented as sustaining human development, stimulating ontological insights, and forming a basis for paranormal perceptions and inspirational dream actualization.
Religions
May 17, 2019
Frederick M. Smith
1 citation
In the Indian philosophical school Sāṃkhya, the 'inner organ' (antaḥkaraṇa) operates in two distinct experiential contexts: the yogic path of transcendence described in Patañjali’s Yogasūtras (circa 350 CE) and the identity shift occurring during possession by a deity in Indian cultural practices. Understanding the antaḥkaraṇa as an actual organ activated by experiential shifts, rather than as a mere concept or collocation of consciousness characteristics, better explains the act of transcendence. This emic approach avoids reducing the organ to nonepistemic objective or subjective factors.
Religions
November 26, 2018
Tatyana Lifintseva, Dmitry Tourko
1 citation
This article compares ontological strategies in Meister Eckhart's Christian Neoplatonic mysticism with those in Advaita Vedanta and Early Buddhism. Despite differences in anthropology, epistemology, and soteriology, all three traditions share similar approaches: detachment from images and forms as the highest blessing; disidentification from body, feelings, cognition, and reason; interiorizing consciousness and ending its representative function. Indian philosophies aim for liberation from suffering into bliss, paralleling Christian salvation through renouncing sin for unity with God. The apophatic Christian view of God as hidden, incomprehensible Nothingness, understood by detachment from the world and ego, enables this comparative analysis.
Religions
July 9, 2026
Orchid-Stone Chang Azanlansh
Mindfulness is reconceptualized as a multilayered developmental architecture rather than a set of techniques or cognitive skills, integrating Daoist internal alchemy and Buddhist contemplative theory through the Dialectical Mandala Model of Mindfulness (DMMM). The model incorporates the psycho-physical dynamics of qi, shen (spirit), hun (cloud-soul), and po (white-soul), and is grounded in the catuṣkoṭi framework to reconstruct dialectical logic underlying contemplative traditions. It proposes four interrelated cycles, each with four phases, where faith, understanding, practice, and realization serve as recurrent structural principles. The DMMM contributes to theory-building in cross-cultural and indigenous psychology by offering a systematic account of how non-discursive states are structured by deeper dialectical logic.
Religions
June 29, 2026
Kwanghyun Han, Sejin Chang
Self-understanding is not a reflective outcome but a conditionally constituted process grounded in the Buddhist principle of dependent origination. Traditional meditation operates as a structure of conditional disclosure, where practitioners observe the dynamic interplay of experiential conditions. In contrast, AI-mediated meditation systems pre-configure these conditions through algorithmic classification, procedural guidance, and interface design, shaping self-understanding through technologically mediated interpretations. The key distinction lies in the visibility and configurational control of conditions. This theoretical framework shows how digital environments may reshape contemplative agency and the conditions under which self-understanding is formed.
Religions
June 24, 2026
Leor Roseman
Prophetic or messianic states of consciousness can be charged with moral urgency and become active, historical, and political. The paper examines psychedelic micro-messianic phenomenology and revolutionary dynamics through three historical figures: Allen Ginsberg (LSD), Master Irineu (Daime/ayahuasca), and John Wilson/Moonhead (peyote). In moments of tension and uncertainty, psychedelics can catalyze micro-messianic movements that diffuse these substances into new situations. A revelatory event motivates the subject to spread the substance and practice, creating a movement that eventually becomes routinized or inverted, then stabilizes into a new status quo from which another revelatory event may arise. The analysis draws on Weber, Wallace, Kuhn, Taves, Whitehouse, Rogers, Badiou, and others to show how psychedelic insights and actions intertwine, with revelations seeking to ripple outward into movements.
Religions
June 22, 2026
Evanne Nowak
Contemplative practices like dialogue and walking can help people perceive and process ecological grief. A study of the Lab Landschapspijn Veluwe in the Netherlands found that these practices function as contemplative witnessing, making ecological loss more perceptible, grievable, and emotionally acknowledged. Participants articulated tangible losses and their emotional, moral, and spiritual dimensions. The practices foster an open-ended engagement where grief, wonder, uncertainty, and care coexist without demanding immediate resolution. Contemplative ecology may thus cultivate the emotional, existential, and relational capacities needed to remain engaged with ecological crisis.
Religions
June 19, 2026
Dongkyu Kim
Shamanic healing rituals in Korea, specifically byeong-gut, paradoxically follow the rigid format of blessing rituals rather than adopting a clinical approach. This article argues that previous scholarship wrongly reduces shamanic healing to psychological comfort or social liberation. By integrating Roy Rappaport's theory of ritual invariance with relational ontologies from Bruno Latour and Tim Ingold, the authors propose a relational displacement model. Healing operates through two mechanisms: at the material level, the ritual objectifies and displaces individual suffering onto external surrogates; at the linguistic level, the invocation chant re-assembles the patient's fragmented life into a network of human and non-human agencies. The byeong-gut transforms suffering into an intelligible event within a shared cosmic order.
Religions
June 16, 2026
Emmanouil Synadinakis, A. Delis, Anastasia Doska et al.
Religious psychopathology sits at the intersection of psychiatry, theology, and culture, addressing mental health disorders expressed through religious content, ideation, or behavior. Distinguishing culturally normative religious experiences from pathological symptoms is non-trivial for clinicians, researchers, and religious leaders. This integrative narrative review examines historical perspectives, diagnostic challenges, clinical manifestations, cultural considerations, therapeutic interventions, neurobiological models, ethical issues, and future directions. It focuses on literature from 2013 to 2025, with selected foundational sources, emphasizing culturally informed and interdisciplinary approaches that respect spiritual frameworks while promoting evidence-based mental health care.
Religions
June 12, 2026
Yue Wang
Lotus and dharma wheel motifs in the Dunhuang Mogao Caves are not merely decorative but function as active visual apparatuses that generate embodied religious experience through a mechanism called totemic mediation. Drawing on structuralist and phenomenological theories, the analysis of motifs in Caves 285, 329, and 361 shows that the lotus mediates ontologically along a spatial axis, building a vertical channel between the worldly and the divine, while the dharma wheel mediates teleologically across the temporal axis, neutralizing linear temporality through rotational dynamics. Together, these motifs constitute visual prajñā—a nonconceptual, embodied cognitive effect that enables direct apprehension of emptiness.
Religions
May 26, 2026
Andrew Skinner
People tend to form social bonds with large language models even when they know the systems lack consciousness. This happens because humans evolved to attribute inner states, moral status, and even 'soul' to nonhuman beings—a capacity that once operated within cultural belief systems that regulated such relationships. Modernity has stripped away those cultural frameworks, but the underlying cognitive architecture for perceiving agency in others remains. When conversational agents behave helpfully and patiently, users project authentic interiority onto them, similar to how ancestors interacted with spirits and animals in enchanted landscapes. The result is a 'Turing Animism' where users feel soul in a simulacrum.
Religions
May 18, 2026
Geoffrey Ready, Ron Cole‐turner
Orthodox Christianity offers distinctive resources for evaluating psychedelic spirituality that both challenge and enrich existing Western Christian approaches. The tradition's insistence that profound spiritual experience is a universal Christian vocation rather than reserved for an elite reframes discussions of mystical experience. Orthodoxy's recognition of diverse catalysts for spiritual awakening, its understanding of ascetical preparation as receptive, and its doctrine of divine energies provide frameworks for evaluating psychedelic experiences that sometimes resemble mystical experience by their orientation and fruits. The emphasis on ongoing formation within communities situates spiritual experience within broader transformation, and traditions of spiritual discernment offer criteria for evaluating authenticity. Engagement with psychedelic experiences can occur within established frameworks when guided by discernment, formation, and communal accountability.
Religions
May 14, 2026
Hollis Phelps
The term “entheogen” is often treated as a neutral label for certain psychoactive drugs, but this article argues it functions as a theological construct. Entheogenic claims about historical use, spiritual meaning, and transformative power are presented as descriptive when they are actually normative. The article examines how the term was created, how advocates portray entheogens as exceptional, how shamanism is used for legitimacy, and the eschatological hopes for social and religious renewal. Instead of judging these claims or proposing a new term, the article interrogates the theological interests and rhetorical strategies involved, suggesting a more reflexive and contextual approach is needed.