The Self in Meditation
The Oxford Handbook of Meditation February 10, 2021 Jessica Frazier
Meditation is an art of self-shaping that sculpts the plastic structures of the mind, contrasting modern views of healing with traditional aims of permanent self-transformation. The mind's architecture of attention, involving selective attention and cumulative self-structures, is explored through absorptive, deconstructive, and narrative meditation forms. These practices shape the inner world, revealing the self as a dynamic, self-creative system constantly transformed by sensory stimuli, where meditation acts as a selective factor determining which elements predominate. Classical meditation aimed to align the self with broader realities, unlike modern concerns with individual autonomy.