Book review: “The elephant and the blind. The experience of pure consciousness: Philosophy, science, and 500+ experiential reports” by Thomas Metzinger.
Journal for person-oriented research August 24, 2026 DOI: 10.17505/jpor.2026.29563 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key findings | Metzinger argues that pure consciousness arises when attention is refocused from the world onto awareness itself, and that meditation likely facilitates this refocusing; the book grounds this theory in more than 500 experiential reports from meditation practitioners. The reviewer finds the account rich in descriptions and hypotheses but raises critical points and suggests alternative perspectives. |
Abstract
In this book, Metzinger develops a theory of pure consciousness, while presenting empirical findings from more than 500 experiential reports from practitioners of meditation. Pure consciousness is what we experience when we attend to awareness itself – when attention is refocused to the normally unnoticed medium through which we experience the world. The practice of meditation is likely to facilitate this kind of refocusing of attention from the world to awareness itself. Metzinger’s book is very rich both in descriptions of experiences reported by practitioners of meditation and in thought-provoking theoretical analyses and hypotheses about the nature of conscious experience. In this review, I also raise some critical points regarding aspects of Metzinger’s model and suggest some alternative and complementary perspectives.