The article presents a scholarly annotated translation and new working edition of the Vibhūtipāda, the third chapter of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra (i.e., the Yoga Sutra together with the so-called Yogabhāṣya, dated to approximately 400 CE). This chapter provides the earliest and most comprehensive systematic account of meditation-derived extraordinary capacities from the perspective of...
Contemporary psychology generally views identification as one of the mechanisms of psychological development, socialization, and personality formation. This paper proceeds from a different assumption. Identification is not a separate psychological mechanism but rather a defective mode of the fundamental mechanism of creative imagination. The central thesis of the paper is that there are not two...
This article examines the convergences and divergences between the human mind and the AI “mind” by drawing on historical philosophical accounts of the relationship between divine and human intellect. The relation conceived between the divine as creator and the human as created may offer insight into the present and future dynamics between human creators and AI systems. Elements such as...
The question "what is an emotion" is as old as the study of the mind and brain. Scientists from Western, English-speaking, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) nations tend to adopt certain definitions, but these definitions do not map onto the lived experiences of all people around the world. My approach to the question "what is an emotion?" is thus to accept that emotions are folk...
Abstract Talkative artificial systems can sustain a realistic impression of intelligent agency, by generating quick, fluent, and context-sensitive strings of text in response to human input. Realism about AI treats this linguistic proficiency as evidence for an underlying suite of cognitive capacities, and so regards these technologies as subjects of psychological states. Firstly, I raise a...
The paper is the third article in the Pali-Psycho series. It compares the Pali Canon with the Desert Fathers, Rhineland Mysticism, Carmelite Mysticism, and Ignatian Spirituality. The analysis uses the convergence-type schema developed in the preceding integrative article and distinguishes empirical, structural-phenomenological, conceptual, and no-parallel relations. The central result is...
Research SquareJune 5, 2026Ronald Blackburn, Julia Brodska
preprint
Abstract Background Individual therapeutic and somatic modalities—including mindfulness meditation, breathwork, structured movement, sound therapy, and heart coherence training—have each been independently associated with reductions in perceived stress, improvements in sleep quality, and shifts in quantitative electroencephalographic (qEEG) indices of neural regulation. Whether concurrent...
This article examines the yogic and Vedantic frameworks for understanding the human mind — specifically the Pancha Kosha model (five sheaths of consciousness) and the Antahkarana model (the fourfold inner instrument of Manas, Buddhi, Chitta, and Ahamkara) — in dialogue with current neuroscience of consciousness, attention, memory, and self-referential processing. The five Koshas are examined:...
How do people appraise their past and imagined future experiences of dissociation?Over three experiments, 1,482 people brought to mind experiences of dissociation and rated how negative, positive, and neutral those experiences were when they happened or would be in the future.People remembered their past dissociative experiences as most often neutral, and more often positive than negative.This...
Background: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a prevalent metabolic and reproductive disorder, significantly impacts women of reproductive age. The conventional approach offers various symptomatic pharmacological interventions for PCOS, but some of them have adverse effects too. In this context, yoga has emerged as a promising non-pharmacological complementary approach. Aim: This systematic...