Liberation or Dissociation? Cultural Mediation and Embodied Development in the Interpretation of Jīvanmukti

Abstract

The Indian concept of Jīvanmukti - liberation while living - offers a critical challenge to dominant psychological models centred on ego integration, identity coherence, and performance. Drawing on cultural psychology, phenomenology, and classical Indian philosophy, this article examines how experiences of altered selfhood may be understood either as pathological dissociation within clinical frameworks or as liberation within contemplative traditions, while recognising the phenomenological differences between these states. Rather than treating these interpretations as mutually exclusive, the analysis situates them within broader systems of cultural mediation that shape how such experiences are understood and integrated. Across Advaita Vedānta, Yoga, and Tantra, Jīvanmukti is articulated as embodied transformation characterised by non-identification, detachment, and ethical spontaneity. Engaging Western perspectives, including Jung’s individuation and Maslow’s self-transcendence, the article questions universalist assumptions about psychological development while also examining how contemporary wellness cultures reframe liberation as self-optimisation. It is argued that experiences involving shifts in ego-identity are not inherently pathological but acquire significance within culturally mediated frameworks. Ultimately, Jīvanmukti invites a rethinking of psychological flourishing beyond ego and identity, suggesting that the distinction between dissociation and liberation lies not only in phenomenology but in the cultural mediation systems through which such experiences are interpreted and integrated.