Fundamental awareness: A framework for integrating science, philosophy and metaphysics.
Neil D. Theise, Menas C Kafatos
Communicative & Integrative Biology 2016 DOI: 10.1080/19420889.2016.1155010 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Keywords | Awareness Complementarity Consciousness Cosmology Emergence Idealism Monism Process Quantum physics |
| Citations | 23 |
| Key points | Proposes that non-dual Awareness is the foundational reality of the universe, not reducible to material phenomena, and that this framework can integrate scientific, philosophical, and metaphysical views on consciousness. |
Abstract
The ontologic framework of Fundamental Awareness proposed here assumes that non-dual Awareness is foundational to the universe, not arising from the interactions or structures of higher level phenomena. The framework allows comparison and integration of views from the three investigative domains concerned with understanding the nature of consciousness: science, philosophy, and metaphysics. In this framework, Awareness is the underlying reality, not reducible to anything else. Awareness and existence are the same. As such, the universe is non-material, self-organizing throughout, a holarchy of complementary, process driven, recursive interactions. The universe is both its own first observer and subject. Considering the world to be non-material and comprised, a priori, of Awareness is to privilege information over materiality, action over agency and to understand that qualia are not a "hard problem," but the foundational elements of all existence. These views fully reflect main stream Western philosophical traditions, insights from culturally diverse contemplative and mystical traditions, and are in keeping with current scientific thinking, expressible mathematically.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 9
- Change in Sense of Nondual Awareness and Spiritual Awakening in Response to a Multidimensional Well-Being Program. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine April 1, 2018
- Nondual Awareness and the Whole Person. Global Advances in Health and Medicine May 21, 2020
- Integrative Theoretical Framework of Consciousness: Towards a Higher-Order Theory Psychology 2023
- Neural filters to conscious awareness and the phenomena that reduce their impact. International Review of Psychiatry 2025
- Comparative Analysis of Upanishadic and Modern Quantum Physics Concepts: Exploring Parallels Between Advaita Vedanta and Quantum Physics Poornaprajna International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences March 31, 2025
and 4 more in the library