bioRxiv
August 5, 2026
A. Callara, Francesco Bossi, Jampa Soepa et al.
preprint
Seven EEG recordings over thirteen months revealed highly stereotyped transitions between distinct brain dynamics in an advanced meditator, providing a rare experimental window onto large-scale brain-state dynamics. We report an intensive longitudinal EEG case study of an experienced Tibetan tantric practitioner recorded across seven different measurement sessions, including concentrative and...
Multi-Disciplinary Explorations: The Kasthamandap College Journal
August 5, 2026
H. Sapkota
This conceptual paper discusses the adaptation of techniques used in the contemplation traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism for application in English as a foreign language, focusing on mindful reading. Drawing on the Bhagavad Gita’s principles of anāsakta karma (detached action) and samatva (equanimity), together with Buddhist teachings of Sati (mindfulness) and Vipassanā (insight meditation),...
Mindfulness
August 5, 2026
Hang Yang, Bruno Herbelin, Elena Pecchini et al.
Abstract Objectives Regular self-compassion practice is associated with improved mental health by fostering kindness toward one’s suffering and relying on self-related processes like perspective-taking. It is not known whether recently described self-related processes that rely on multisensory bodily signals, induced by exposing participants to an avatar and multisensory stimulation, also...
Asian Journal of Philosophy
August 5, 2026
Donovan Wishon
Abstract This paper critically examines Haoying Liu’s recent challenge to Russellian monism (RM), often understood as the view that (1) physics describes natural phenomena entirely in structural terms; (2) such phenomena possess intrinsic characters, or quiddities, that constitute or ground what physics describes structurally; and (3) phenomenal consciousness is constituted, at least in part,...
Otago University Research Archive
August 4, 2026
Caitlin Elaine Thorburn
While cannabis has been reported to have many therapeutic utilisations, minimal studies have explored the use behaviours of individuals with ADHD in New Zealand. Due to the considerably high rates of cannabis use within this population, it is necessary that this gap in the literature is explored. Of the analyses that have been conducted, it appears that the self-medication hypothesis may...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
August 4, 2026
Sarah E. Worth
preprint
The senses occupy a paradoxical place in the history of philosophy. They are our primary means of engaging with the world, yet they have frequently been treated as inferior to reason and regarded with suspicion as unreliable sources of knowledge. In this paper I trace the philosophical history of the senses from antiquity to the present, examining how different traditions have understood the...
Religions
August 4, 2026
Yixuan Liu
Negation appears across diverse religious traditions and provides a fruitful point of entry for comparative theological reflection. This paper compares St. John of the Cross’s account of the dark night in Christian mysticism with Śaṅkara’s understanding of vairāgya (renunciation or dispassion) in Advaita Vedānta. Rather than classifying Advaita as a form of Christian negative theology, the...
Method & Theory in the Study of Religion
August 4, 2026
Ziqiang Zhao
This article examines the role of embodied knowledge in translating practice-oriented religious texts through a case study of Livia Kohn’s Sitting in Oblivion: The Heart of Daoist Meditation . While Kohn’s translation of the Tang-dynasty Zuowang Lun 坐忘論 exhibits clear markers of phenomenological literacy – experientially precise terminology, recognition of practice progressions, and technical...
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
August 4, 2026
Amir Freimann
This essay addresses a lacuna in humanistic psychology concerning stabilized spiritual consciousness. Building on Maslow’s “high plateau,” it introduces “Living Transcendence” as a phenomenological term for this stable trait. Drawing on research with spiritual exemplars, the trait is described as an experience with specific noetic, affective, embodied, and relational qualities, their constancy,...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
August 4, 2026
Teresa Campillo-Ferrer, Tomas Berjaga-Buisan, Antonella Iadarola et al.
preprint
Abstract Experiences in which the sense of the body becomes distorted offer a unique window into how the brain constructs the bodily self. Despite their clinical relevance in conditions such as depersonalization and body-image disorders, large-scale brain dynamics underlying unusual bodily experiences (UBEs) remain poorly understood, and no prior study has examined them systematically across...