A central tenet of Freudian dream theory holds that there is thematic coherence within all dreams, even those containing scene and plot discontinuities. While other models support varying degrees of dream coherence, none address the question of how, or even whether, coherence can be identified in dreams with such discontinuities. Here, we objectively test the ability of judges to evaluate the...
Chronic pain remains one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and is strongly influenced by attentional and cognitive-emotional factors such as catastrophizing and hypervigilance. While distraction techniques (eg, virtual reality, music) and mindfulness-based approaches are established adjuncts in pain management, the psychological construct of flow-a state of deep absorption and...
Just as the brain of Albert Einstein is studied in an attempt to understand human intelligence or the bodies of elite athletes are examined to improve muscle strength, the study of people who claim to have spiritual experiences could enrich the investigation of the brain-mind relationship. Although mediumship with deceased people is widely extensively studied in spiritual experiences, we...
There has been a call for neuroscientific studies of spiritual experiences due to their global prevalence, significant impact, and importance for understanding the mind-brain problem. Mediumship is a spiritual experience where individuals claim to communicate with or be influenced by deceased persons or non-material entities. We assessed whether mediums carry specific genetic alterations. We...
Explore2025João Francisco Pollo Gaspary, Alfred Lee Edgar, Fernanda Peron Gaspary et al.
Ancestral healing rituals have long been embedded in cultural traditions as symbolic practices. However, emerging evidence suggests these rituals may act as structured behavioral interventions capable of eliciting adaptive physiological responses. This study proposes a translational reinterpretation of ancestral healing rituals through the lens of contemporary redox biology, systems physiology,...
This paper explores the application of Or HaGanuz (Hidden Light), a foundational concept in Jewish mystical tradition, to contemporary therapeutic practice. Drawing on the evolution of this concept from Midrashic origins through Zoharic development to Chassidic psychology, particularly as articulated in the Me'or Einayim of Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl, this analysis proposes a framework...
Explore2025Anne Kennard, Jennifer Clinkenbeard, Erin Gillespie et al.
To evaluate how a year-long Contemplative Medicine Fellowship impacts physician burnout, moral injury, work-life integration, meaning, capacity for compassion, and professional resilience. A pre-post survey observational study using a combination of validated survey tools and questionnaire items authored by the research team. The New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care (NYZC), an educational...
The main purpose of this research article is to explore the effects of Om Jap Dhyan on mental health issues-specifically anxiety, depression, stress, and emotion regulation-among elderly individuals and is to model the statistical results in the form of first order differential equation. The Om Jap Dhyana program has been running since 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the evening virtually...
The focus of this study is the Buddhist understanding of fear, its characteristics, its role in the spiritual journey, and the healing potential of Buddhist practices that underlie the above-mentioned. In articulating Early and Mahayana Buddhist scriptures along with contemporary psychological perspectives, the study denotes that, in Buddhism, fear is not simply a negative emotion; it is...
McFadden's conscious electromagnetic information (CEMI) field theory proposes that the human brain functions as a hybrid digital-EM field computer. The digital computations are implemented by the matter-based neuronal-synaptic network analogous to conventional digital computers operating Boolean-like logic gates nonconsciously and in parallel. Yet neuronal electrical firing and synaptic...