Technological developments and the introduction of mass media into our lives have led to an increase in the visibility of religion on digital platforms. With the digitalization process affecting religious perceptions and practices, the change in the phenomenon of belief has brought about an intensification of spiritual searches. These searches offer almost all belief systems, from...
Challenging Freud’s contention that the origin of religion is the need for a protective Father – rather than an oceanic feeling of eternity – Augustine’s Confessions (as I read it) indicates that such an oceanic experience generated the concept of original sin, in order to justify a theological procedure for returning to that ecstatic experience, thereby laying the foundation for Christianity....
Integrated information theory (IIT) argues that the substrate of consciousness is a maximally irreducible complex of units. Together, subsets of the complex specify a cause-effect structure, composed of distinctions and their relations, which accounts in full for the quality of experience. The feeling of a specific experience is also its meaning for the subject, which is thus defined...
This article is an attempt to respond the following two questions; what is the nature of peusijeuk and how it is related to human well-being, and how peusijeuk works as a therapy. Grounded on a critical view upon mainstream theories of psychology, this work accordingly advocate indigenous psychology by majorly comparing it to behaviourist and psycho-analysis theories and, more importantly,...
DMT reliably induces profound experiences of immersion in other worlds and encounters with seemingly autonomous presences, yet the lived qualities and unfolding of these experiences remain poorly understood. Using micro-phenomenological interviews with twenty-three healthy participants who received DMT during fMRI scanning, this study explores how these experiences arise and develop in...
This paper delves into the connection between Zhuangzi’s mystical philosophy and its potential application to nonviolent resistance movements. It argues that the cultivation of inner peace, as advocated by Zhuangzi, can serve as a powerful foundation for individuals to engage in peaceful social change. Zhuangzi, a prominent figure in ancient Chinese thought, emphasized the importance of...
The study of mysticism has been at an impasse for many years, wavering between naïve realism around a common core hypothesis and critical questioning of the category of mysticism and its imposition. In this article, we review key 20th century developments in the study of mysticism to understand why the term was largely abandoned and unpack the contours of this impasse. Specifically, we probe...
For the last few decades gaze as a theoretical concept has been explored from philosophical, political, and psychological perspectives. However, its exploration in media studies has been the most extensive where it has been used to explore the viewers’ engagement with visual media. Theories of male gaze (Mulvey), female gaze (Lorraine Gamman, Margaret Marshment), objectifying gaze (Fredrickson...
Abstract Though Philo of Alexandria’s ascetic beliefs and practices often have been noted, a focused assessment of the Platonic influences on his contemplative asceticism has yet to be offered. While addressing that shortcoming, this essay identifies a number of key Platonic themes. Like Plato’s Socrates, Philo is capable of expressing a range of opinions concerning embodied existence and the...
The comparison between Hesychasm and Sufism focuses on their respective mystical practices: the Jesus Prayer in Hesychasm and Dhikr in Sufism. Both traditions emphasize withdrawing from worldly distractions to achieve spiritual purity and communion with the divine. In Hesychasm, practitioners use the Jesus Prayer to attain inner stillness and experience divine light, aiming for a state of...