Mindfulness, Meditation, and Time
September 2, 2025 DOI: 10.4324/9781003495611-47 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Proposes and evaluates five interpretations of meditators' reports that transcendental meditation experiences feel continuous but timeless, arguing that examining such non-ordinary mental states can illuminate the boundaries of and conditions for consciousness. |
Abstract
This chapter concerns the temporal phenomenology of transcendental meditation experiences. Meditators describe the phenomenology of such experiences as continuous but timeless. I shall suggest and evaluate five different interpretations of this perplexing characterization. Exploring non-ordinary mental states such as those realized by transcendental meditation techniques promises novel insights into the boundaries of and conditions for consciousness. This chapter hopes to contribute to this program by focusing on the temporal phenomenology of meditative states.