On the Veiling and Unveiling of Experience: A Comparison Between the Micro-Phenomenological Method and the Practice of Meditation
Journal of Phenomenological Psychology August 12, 2021 DOI: 10.1163/15691624-12341383 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 15 |
| Key points | Proposes that four types of veiling processes—attentional, emotional, intentional, and cognitive—screen present experience and generate the naive belief in an external reality independent of the mind. |
Abstract
Both Buddhist meditation and micro-phenomenology start from the observation that our experience escapes us, we don’t see it as it is. Both offer devices that allow us to become aware of it. But, surprisingly, the two approaches offer few precise descriptions of the processes which veil experience, and of those which make it possible to dissipate these veils. This article is an attempt to put in parentheses declarative writings on the veiling and unveiling processes and their epistemological background and to collect procedural descriptions of this veiling and unveiling processes. From written and oral meditation teachings on the one hand, micro-phenomenological interviews applied to meditative experience and to themselves on the other hand, we identified four types of veiling processes which contribute to screen what is there, and ultimately to generate the naïve belief in the existence of an external reality independent of the mind: attentional, emotional, intentional and cognitive veils. The first part of the article describes these veiling processes and the processes through which they dissipate. It leads to the identification of several “gestures” conducive to this unveiling. The second part describes the devices used by meditation and by micro-phenomenology to elicit these gestures.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- The lived experience of remembering a ‘good’ interview: Micro-phenomenology applied to itself Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences September 10, 2022
- Re-Visioning Ethnography Through Meditative Practice: The Proposal for a Contemplative Anthropology and Its Experience through Visual Elicitation Technique Journal of Contemplative Studies August 6, 2024
- Reconstrucción eidética de la experiencia vivida: Arquitectura estructural para la descripción fundamental del fenómeno en la fenomenología trascendental aplicada a la educación Revista Española de Pedagogía September 30, 2026
- Transitions in Transitivity Entangled Religions June 26, 2025
- La contemplation dans l’écoformation - Communautés et spécificités épistémologiques et méthodologiques d’approches contemplatives écoformatrices Éducation relative à l environnement 2023
and 1 more in the library
Cites 4
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Studying the experience of meditation through Micro-phenomenology Current Opinion in Psychology October 25, 2018
- How does it feel to lack a sense of boundaries? A case study of a long-term mindfulness meditator. Consciousness and Cognition December 1, 2015
- Describing one’s subjective experience in the second person: An interview method for the science of consciousness November 29, 2006