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Knowledge, meditation, surrender: The addicted academic

S. Dhillon

Journal for the Study of Spirituality November 4, 2026 DOI: 10.1080/20440243.2026.2736609 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Autoethnography Peer reviewed
Topics Meditation
Key findings Argues that academic knowledge production can function as an idolatrous, addictive practice that serves as a surrogate Absolute, obscuring experiential spirituality, and that this orientation is shaped by neoliberal norms of productivity and self-surveillance. Proposes that spiritual insight may emerge through destabilisation of the academic ego.

Abstract

This paper offers a critically reflexive autoethnographic inquiry into how academic knowledge production can become an idolatrous practice that obscures, displaces, or suppresses experiential forms of spirituality. Drawing on Vedantic and Buddhist accounts of surrender, Aristotelian formation, Augustine’s ordo amoris, Eckhartian apophasis, Theodor W. Adorno’s critical theory, Jiddu Krishnamurti’s dialogues and contemporary spirituality scholarship, the article argues that the modern academy fosters an addictive orientation to knowledge that functions as a surrogate Absolute. Integrating insights from addiction studies and embodied affect theory, the analysis reframes academic overwork as a form of addictive embodiment shaped by neoliberal norms of productivity and self-surveillance. The article explores how spiritual insight may emerge through a destabilisation of the academic ego. The study contributes to interdisciplinary spirituality research by illuminating how spiritual experience, critique, and transformation can arise within ostensibly secular professional contexts.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan... 2017 Qualitative study with mixed-methods
The Effects of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction on Nurse Stress and Burnout Nurses in a hospital system 2004 Implementation study with mixed methods
An exploratory mixed methods study of the acceptability and effectiveness of mindfulness -based cognitive therapy for patients with active depression and anxiety in primary care Primary care patients with recurrent depression or recurrent depression and anxiety 2006 Exploratory mixed methods study n = 13
A qualitative study of mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy for depression Participants in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in a mental-health context 2001 Qualitative study n = 7
Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report Meditators 2013 Qualitative study using grounded theory methodology

Citations in the library

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Meditation Addiction Buddhism