The Understudied Side of Contemplation: Words, Images, and Intentions in a Syncretic Spiritual Practice.
Michael Lifshitz, Joshua Brahinsky, T M Luhrmann
The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis January 1, 2020 DOI: 10.1080/00207144.2020.1726180 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractScientific research on contemplation has disproportionately focused on mindfulness, which involves disengaging from words and images to experience the present moment. However, contemplative traditions more commonly use words, images, and intentions. This paper presents ethnographic research on Integral Transformative Practice (ITP), a syncretic tradition from the Human Potential Movement, focusing on the practice of "affirmations" where practitioners imagine future possibilities to actualize spiritual goals. The authors argue this opens new avenues for psychological research on the role of words and images in contemplation.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Practitioners of Integral Transformative Practice (ITP) |
| Intervention | affirmations |
| Key finding | The use of words and images, such as in affirmations, is a common contemplative practice that deserves more scientific attention, contrasting with the disproportionate focus on mindfulness. |
Abstract
The science of contemplation has focused on mindfulness in a manner quite disproportionate to its use in contemplative traditions. Mindfulness, as understood within the scientific community, is a practice that invites practitioners to disattend to words and images. The practitioner is meant to experience things as they "really are," unfolding here and now in the flux of embodied sensations. Yet the use of words and images, together with intentions, is a far more common contemplative practice. The authors present ethnographic research with a syncretic contemplative tradition, Integral Transformative practice (ITP), which grew out of the Human Potential Movement of the 1960s. The authors focus on the practice of "affirmations," in which practitioners seek to actualize spiritual goals by imagining future possibilities. Our ethnographic account invites new avenues for psychological research to illuminate the role of words and images in contemplation.