Challenges facing contemplative science
The potential of contemplative science also highlights many challenges which will need to be addressed in order for this potential to fully manifest. One of these challenges is the current, rather narrow focus of meditation research and applications. As we have discussed in this book, contemplative traditions contain a wide range of meditation practices targeting different aspects of contemplative training, from the development of stability of attention and enhancement of meta-awareness, through cultivation of qualities of compassion and loving kindness, to supporting shifts in MEA in order to enhance the practitioner’s existential well-being. So far most of these meditation techniques have not been explored in research or wider applications. Moving towards such an expansion of the field of contemplative research will require the firm grounding of a contemplative science theory and focused considerations about how such contemplative training can be implemented in different contexts.
Another challenge is linked to a shift towards a long-term view of meditation training in the secular context. Currently, secular meditation training is mostly viewed in terms of its short-term self-regulation effects. This builds a very good foundation for the next phase in the application of meditation-based approaches which can take a longer-term view of meditation and its lasting impact on the well-being of practitioners. This long-term perspective will necessitate introducing existential well-being dimensions of meditation practices into secular meditation training, which will bring up the need for investigating the ethical and motivational/intentional foundations of secular meditation training. This process will create new demands on the training of secular meditation teachers and the development of connections between secular and traditional contemplative approaches.
Finally, the broader vision of contemplative science will also encourage investigation of meditation practices and contemplative training trajectories across contemplative traditions. Most of the current research and applications of meditation have focused, both in secular and traditional contexts, on mindfulness as a core practice of Buddhism or derived from Buddhism. However, contemplative traditions involve a variety of meditation practices, which at least to some extent cultivate mindfulness and meta-awareness (perhaps conceptualized differently from Buddhist accounts) as the foundations for further contemplative training. In the same way, different contemplative traditions will apply different techniques in supporting practitioners in developing contemplative insight. However, it can be expected that across the multitude of traditions the basic mechanisms of the mind targeted by meditation practices will be very similar. Specifically, all meditation practices are likely to impact the processes of the MSRC and shifts in MEA while being grounded in motivational/intentional factors and a particular context of meditation practice. However, the specific constellations of modifications in MSRC and forms of MEA may differ across contemplative approaches. The core task of contemplative science is to investigate these similarities and differences with the aim of developing a comprehensive, discipline-specific theory which can systematically guide further investigations and applications.
Conclusion
This book aimed to highlight the wide-reaching potential of meditation in supporting the development of our self-regulation and existential well-being. In order for us to fully grasp this potential, we need to expand our view of meditation in terms of the range of meditation practices and traditions investigated, long-term trajectory of meditation training and contemplative science theory. To encourage this broader perspective on meditation, this book considered several types of meditation practices including mindfulness, compassion and related qualities, visualization-based practices, existential insight practices and the state of existential balance. These were explored from a long-term meditation point of view with regard to their underlying theory, practical guidance, neurocognitive changes and applicability in everyday life. Throughout the book, these considerations were grounded in the understanding of contemplative science as a new discipline which investigates changes in the meta-cognitive self-regulatory capacity (MSRC) of the mind and modes of existential awareness (MEA). These discussions particularly highlighted the need for research and applications of meditation-based techniques to embrace the existential dimension of meditation training, which is particularly pertinent to long-term meditation practice. These considerations have implications for further developments in secular applications of meditation techniques as well as ways they approach interactions with traditional contemplative approaches. Overall, the considerations in this book show that despite the exponential increase in research and applications of meditation-based approaches over the last three decades, we are still only scratching the surface of the potential that these techniques have for transforming our sense of meaning and purpose in life with broad societal implications.
Summary
Chapter 8 introduces a framework of contemplative science as a new discipline investigating changes in the metacognitive self-regulatory capacity (MSRC) of the mind and shifts in modes of existential awareness (MEA) resulting from meditation training. Building on this framework, the following discussion introduces the subdisciplines of contemplative psychology, contemplative psychotherapy, contemplative neuroscience and developmental contemplative science. Implications of contemplative science research and applications of meditation techniques are then considered in the context of healthcare and other societal contexts. Finally, the chapter highlights challenges which the field of contemplative science will be likely facing as it grows and expands, including a broadening of the range of meditation practices investigated, a focus on the long-term perspective of meditation and investigations of meditation across contemplative traditions. The chapter concludes with an emphasis on the much wider than currently grasped potential of contemplative training in contributing to human well-being, particularly with regard to our sense of meaning and purpose in life.
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Glossary
Abhidharma (Pāli: Abhidhamma; Sanskrit: Abhidharma): Buddhist texts containing philosophical considerations about the mind and taxonomies of mental phenomena.
Affect: in the context of cognitive psychology and cognitive science an overarching category which includes emotions, moods, impulses and stress.
Amygdala: almond-shaped brain structures located in the medial temporal lobes and involved in affective reactions such as fear.
Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC): area of the brain involved in regulation of emotions and decision making.
Arousal: in the context of emotion research reflects the intensity of emotional experience.
Attention blink: describes the limited attentional capacity of the mind to detect stimuli occurring too close together in time (within 500 milliseconds) which often results in the second stimulus of a sequence not being noticed.
Bhūmi (Sanskrit: Bhūmi; Tibetan: byang chub sems dpai sa): levels of accomplishment in contemplative training on the path to complete enlightenment; the Mahāyāna tradition usually describes 11 Bhūmis; teachings of Dzogchen often discuss 16 Bhūmis.
Bodhicitta: a quality of the mind which directly links contemplative mind training to the goal of enlightenment. It is often divided into relative and absolute bodhicitta. Relative bodhicitta is the mental state of a strong aspiration to attain enlightenment and help all sentient beings achieve this state, which translates into dedicated engagement in mind training leading to it. Absolute bodhicitta is the state of recognizing the nature of the mind and stabilizing consciousness in this mental state, which is the same as enlightenment.
Cognition: a broad category encompassing mental processes involved in perception, thought, language, decision making and affective processing.
Cognitive neuroscience: a branch of neuroscience examining the links between mental processing and brain structure and functioning in humans.
Cognitive science: an interdisciplinary science of the mind integrating research in cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy of mind and science, linguistics, computer science and cognitive anthropology.
Contemplative: referring to contemplative practice, which involves a range of mind training methods, mostly meditation, used in spiritual philosophies and religious traditions.
Contemplative science: an interdisciplinary study of the metacognitive self-regulatory capacity (MSRC) of the mind and associated modes of existential awareness (MEA) modulated by motivational/intentional and contextual factors of contemplative practices.
Default mode network (DMN): a network of brain areas which are active when people are resting with eyes closed or focusing on a fixation point. DMN activation is a marker of interconnectedness in activation across brain regions in a resting state.
Defence mechanisms: mental strategies such as rationalization protecting the self from feelings of guilt or shame.
Dharmadhātu (Sanskrit: dharmadhātu; Tibetan: Chosyang): In Dzogchen, the space or root of existence from which all phenomena arise.
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: area of the brain involved in functions of executive control, particularly working memory, aspects of attention monitoring and decision making.
Dzogchen: a tradition of Tibetan Buddhism which focuses on direct understanding of the innate pristine nature of awareness; within the system of Tibetan Buddhism, Dzogchen is classified as the highest of the teachings (Ati-yoga). It is often described as a group of practices focusing on non-duality.
Electroencephalography (EEG): neuroscientific research method which records electrical activity of the brain (on the scale of microvolts) in the form of oscillations reflecting the firing of neural assemblies.
Emotion regulation: the ability to modulate processing a
nd expression of emotions.
Emotions: one of the subcategories of affect experienced for a shorter amount of time than moods, often in response to a specific event.
Eudaimonic happiness: found in the pursuit of something worthy in the deeper sense; this type of happiness comes from accomplishing our highest potential, from looking for meaning in life and experiences beyond the self-centred perspective.
Event-related potentials (ERPs): averaged brain wave patterns elicited by a certain type of stimuli (e.g., affective pictures or words); ERPs have excellent temporal resolution – are able to record the brain’s activity with millisecond accuracy, but do not provide very specific information about the brain structures producing the electrical signal.
Existential instinct: the search for meaning and purpose in life postulated as the fundamental driving force of the human mind; meditation approaches suggest that the ultimate sense of meaning and purpose arises from experiential understanding of the nature of self and reality.
Existentialism: philosophical tradition and psychotherapeutic approach explaining how attribution of meaning determines the direction of human life.
First-person methods (introspective methods): methods investigating functioning of the mind in which the research participant observes mental processes in their own mind and reports on this.
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