The spiritual core of the hard problem: consciousness as foundational, not emergent.
Amira Arora
Frontiers in Psychology 2025 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1659944 (opens in new tab)
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Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Advaita vedanta Consciousness is primary Contemplative science Cosmology and consciousness Participatory knowing Spiritual phenomenology Transpersonal psychology Reality's very foundation Subjective experience Transpersonal cosmology Integrating non-dual traditions |
| Key points | Argues that consciousness is ontologically primary, not an emergent property of neural processes, and that a consciousness-centered metaphysics provides a more coherent model for explaining subjectivity, intentionality, and qualia. |
Abstract
This paper proposes a transpersonal reframing of the Hard Problem of Consciousness by positing that consciousness is ontologically primary-not an emergent property of neural processes, but the foundational reality from which mind and matter arise. Integrating insights from non-dual spiritual traditions such as Advaita Vedanta and Tibetan Buddhism, contemplative science, and the work of transpersonal theorists including Jorge Ferrer, Ken Wilber, and Stanislav Grof, the study argues that a consciousness-centered metaphysics offers a more coherent model for explaining subjectivity, intentionality, and qualia. In critiquing materialist reductionism, it highlights the limitations of third-person methodologies and emphasizes the legitimacy of first-person and participatory ways of knowing. The paper also explores the broader epistemological, ethical, cultural, and ecological implications of adopting a transpersonal cosmology-one that bridges science and spirituality without collapsing their distinctions. By shifting the ontological center from matter to consciousness, this framework invites a pluralistic, integrative paradigm for understanding reality, advancing both human flourishing and scientific inquiry.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 7
- Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2003
- Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 8, 2004
- Psychedelics and the essential importance of context. Journal of Psychopharmacology February 15, 2018
- Self-transcendent experience: a grounded theory study Qualitative Research September 29, 2014
- Reconstructing and deconstructing the self: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice Trends in Cognitive Sciences July 28, 2015
and 2 more in the library