The roles and impacts of worldviews in the context of meditation-related challenges.
Jared R. Lindahl, Roman Palitsky, David J Cooper, Willoughby B. Britton
Transcultural Psychiatry August 1, 2023 DOI: 10.1177/13634615221128679 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Buddhist meditation practitioners and meditation experts |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Meditation-related challenges Religion Science Worldviews |
| Key findings | Worldviews can act as both a risk factor for and a remedy to meditation-related challenges, with practitioners and teachers navigating religious and scientific frameworks in a context of Buddhist modernism. |
Abstract
Previous research has shown that worldviews can serve as a coping response to periods of difficulty or struggle, and worldviews can also change on account of difficulty. This paper investigates the impacts worldviews have on the nature and trajectory of meditation-related challenges, as well as how worldviews change or are impacted by such challenges. The context of meditation-related challenges provided by data from the Varieties of Contemplative Experience research project offers a unique insight into the dynamics between worldviews and meditation. Buddhist meditation practitioners and meditation experts interviewed for the study report how, for some, worldviews can serve as a risk factor impacting the onset and trajectory of meditation-related challenges, while, for others, worldviews (e.g., being given a worldview, applying a worldview, or changing a worldview) were reported as a remedy for mitigating challenging experiences and/or their associated distress. Buddhist meditation practitioners and teachers in the contemporary West are also situated in a cultural context in which religious and scientific worldviews and explanatory frameworks are dually available. Furthermore, the context of "Buddhist modernism" has also promoted a unique configuration in which the theory and practice of Buddhism is presented as being closely compatible with science. We identify and discuss the various impacts that religious and scientific worldviews have on meditation practitioners and meditation teachers who navigate periods of challenge associated with the practice.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 12
- Importance of Integrating Spiritual, Existential, Religious, and Theological Components in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies. JAMA Psychiatry July 1, 2023
- Relationships between Religious and Scientific Worldviews in the Narratives of Western Buddhists Reporting Meditation-Related Challenges Journal of Contemplative Studies July 23, 2025
- Altered states of consciousness caused by a mindfulness-based programme up to a year later: Results from a randomised controlled trial. PLoS One July 17, 2024
- Leveraging meditation research for the study of psychedelic-related adverse effects. International Review of Psychiatry December 1, 2024
- Documenting and defining emergent phenomenology: theoretical foundations for an extensive research strategy Frontiers in Psychology July 10, 2024
and 7 more in the library
Cites 9
- The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists PLoS One May 24, 2017
- Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience Numen 1995
- “Like a Vibration Cascading through the Body”: Energy-Like Somatic Experiences Reported by Western Buddhist Meditators Religions November 24, 2021
- Relationships between Religious and Scientific Worldviews in the Narratives of Western Buddhists Reporting Meditation-Related Challenges Journal of Contemplative Studies July 23, 2025
- Fear and Terror in Buddhist Meditation Journal of Cognitive Historiography December 24, 2022
and 4 more in the library