The rapid integration of Large Language Models has triggered a global policy dilemma regarding anthropomorphism and user dependency. Because this regulatory challenge is closely tied to an unresolved conceptual ambiguity concerning the nature of AI, this article introduces a phenomenological framework to delineate the essential character of synthetic cognition. To this end, we demonstrate a...
Abstract Recent literature highlights the inadequacy of stress reduction and self-awareness skills in the professional development of healthcare students. Pharmacy educational programs report high rates of burnout and stress-related psychological impact on student well-being and academic performance. Meditative practices have been shown to reduce stress and anxiety in pharmacy students. M.T.O....
This Comment examines how recent advances in large language models (LLMs) are transforming contemporary engagements with sacred texts, devotional practices, and mystical traditions across multiple religious contexts. As LLMs increasingly mediate spiritual inquiry—by providing instant scriptural explanations, personalised guidance, and simulated access to prophetic or mystical figures—their...
Human well-being, overall and immune system health, is the result of many variables, and an individual’s adaptive abilities. By understanding the connections between everyday choices, the laws governing the body, and additionally considering the social, psycho-emotional, cultural, spiritual, and environmental aspects of humanity, people can avoid disease themselves. Moreover, for the...
The mediators and moderators of the effect of mindfulness- and compassion-based interventions (MCBIs) on parental burnout are not yet well understood. This study examined the impact of an MCBI on parental burnout in China, investigated the mediating roles of parenting stress, mindful parenting, and self-compassion, and explored the moderating effects of baseline mindful parenting, baseline...
Generative language models seem to refute Hubert Dreyfus’s verdict that AI can never match human “knowing-how.” Re-reading Dreyfus through Heidegger, this paper argues that the decisive divide is not skilled coping versus rules, but correlational patterning versus teleological causation. The latter is termed causal-intentional binding —Dasein’s future-oriented act of opening meanings for which...
Mental fatigue (MF) negatively affects athletes’ performance, particularly in basketball, where decision-making and technical skills are crucial. This study aims to examine whether a 30-min short-term audio mindfulness intervention could mitigate MF-induced decline in basketball technical performance. This study employed the cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) design. A total of 54 male...
The integration of mindfulness practice within online training programs has gained traction due to its potential to enhance learning effectiveness. This study investigates the impact of a 9-min online mindfulness exercise on mitigating distractions during online learning and their influence on training effectiveness. Two empirical studies ( n study 1 = 93, n study 2 = 116) were conducted within...
This study examines the dynamics between charismatic leadership and the Mandate of Heaven (tianming, 天命) in the Boxer Uprising (1899–1901), analyzing how religious authority was constructed, exercised, and ultimately collapsed. Drawing on Max Weber’s theory of charismatic authority and the historical genealogy of tianming discourse, the research develops an integrative “Sacred Mobilization...
Abstract It is well-established that phenomenology is about both existent and imaginary entities. The latter category encompasses necessary beings, hypothetical objects, possible objects, and modal properties. Given the vast range of potential intentional objects for intentional states, the total number of such mental states would vastly exceed the number of possible physical states. This...
Abstract The integration of contemplative practices in foreign language teaching (FLT) has gained increasing attention for its potential to enrich educational experiences and outcomes. This systematic review synthesizes empirical evidence on contemplative practices in FLT and examines their reported advantages, limitations, pedagogical implications, and geographical distribution. Following...
Abstract This paper advances and defends an inclusive functionalist conception of perception, according to which any cognitive process that involves information selection, representation—understood in a functional sense as an internal state that carries information about the world and guides behavior and cognition independently of its phenomenal properties—and behavioral guidance qualifies as...
This paper examines how we arrived at a historical moment in which contemplative practices are widely disseminated, yet collective suffering, polarization, wars and genocides, and ecological degradation persist. Thepaper aims to analyze evolutionary, psychological, cultural, and institutional barriers that constrain the cultivation and societal scaling of contemplative practices, namely...
This article develops the Existential Hologram as a configurational model for analysing how sacred presence becomes experientially available in architecture. Rather than treating presence as symbolic content lodged in built form, the model approaches it as a fragile yet repeatable achievement that arises when four analytic fields—Embodied, Mnemonic, Symbolic, and Resonant—are coupled under LUX,...
This study examined the indirect effect of student engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive) in the relationship between mindfulness and flourishing among university students. A cross-sectional survey design was employed, with data collected from 618 students (Mage = 24.3, SD = 4.97) across various academic disciplines. Student engagement was measured using the Arabic version of the...
Religious practices have long been studied for their psychological effects, yet their relationship to human pleasure systems remains underexplored. This study investigates how practices such as prayer, scripture chanting, asceticism, and meditation interact with neural pleasure circuits. Through neurobiological analysis and psychological evidence, we examine responses documented during various...
Egoic dynamics have shaped human cognition, social structures, and technological systems for tens of thousands of years, yet their historical continuity remains theoretically underdeveloped. This paper reconstructs a genealogy of egoic development from early survival logics to its contemporary algorithmic forms. Drawing on active inference accounts of self maintenance, developmental psychology,...
Abstract This paper presents “ Neither/Nor ,” a philosophical synthesis which defines conceptual and experiential modes of knowing as complementary skills which can be deliberately trained and oscillated. The paper argues that neither theory (concepts) nor practice (experience) alone can suffice for desirable outcomes in personal flourishing or scientific inquiry. Drawing from Western and...
International altruism is crucial for promoting global stability and peaceful development. Thus, it is vital to identify factors that can enhance international altruism. Building upon the revised small-self hypothesis, we investigated whether dispositional awe affects international altruism, as well as the mediating roles of self-transcendence and identity with all humanity (IWAH), in different...
Integrated Amrita Meditation-35 (IAM®-35) is a 35-min meditation practice introduced by Satguru Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), integrating gentle yoga postures, breath regulation, and Bhāvanā , an ancient contemplative principle meaning “bringing into being”. Although Bhāvanā appears in classical Indian texts such as the Bhāvanopaniṣad , IAM®-35 was developed independently by Amma,...
With universities increasingly offering mindfulness-based interventions to enhance students’ mental health conditions and alleviate the strain on overwhelmed psychological services, this study aimed to investigate the potential effectiveness of a brief VR-based mindfulness intervention for university students with depression and anxiety symptoms. Employing a quasi-experimental design, the...
Abstract This paper explores the integration of eastern philosophical practices, particularly Self-Enquiry, into contemporary psychotherapy. It begins by examining various philosophical traditions’ views on the self, contrasting eastern and western perspectives. Self-Enquiry, rooted in Indian Vedantic philosophy, offers a unique pathway to psychological well-being by encouraging individuals to...
Abstract The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how humans live and interact, raising both excitement and concerns—particularly about the potential for AI consciousness. For example, Google engineer Blake Lemoine suggested that the AI chatbot LaMDA might become sentient. At that time, GPT-3 was one of the most powerful publicly available language models, capable of...
Abstract In a study testing whether mindfulness decreases cognitive biases, respondents answered 22 standard cognitive bias questions to measure susceptibility to the endowment effect, overconfidence, mental accounting, anchoring, loss aversion, and 17 other biases, as well as the 14 questions of the Langer mindfulness survey (LMS), measuring the traits of novelty-seeking, novelty producing,...
Abstract How does one know the phenomenal character of one’s own experience? I aim to present and defend a new view of the epistemology of qualia that addresses this issue. My view results from a reworking of Dretske’s displaced perception model. The guiding line is the key Wittgensteinian insight of his Private Language Argument, namely the claim that no inner perception of qualia can justify...