This study investigated the link between meditation, self-reported mindfulness and cognitive flexibility as well as other attentional functions. It compared a group of meditators experienced in mindfulness meditation with a meditation-naïve control group on measures of Stroop interference and the “d2-concentration and endurance test”. Overall the results suggest that attentional performance and cognitive flexibility are positively related to meditation practice and levels of mindfulness. Meditators performed significantly better than non-meditators on all measures of attention. Furthermore, self-reported mindfulness was higher in (...) meditators than non-meditators and correlations with all attention measures were of moderate to high strength. This pattern of results suggests that mindfulness is intimately linked to improvements of attentional functions and cognitive flexibility. The relevance of these findings for mental balance and well-being are discussed. (shrink)

While art and science still functioned side-by-side during the Renaissance, their methods and perspectives diverged during the nineteenth century, creating a still enduring separation between the "two cultures". Recently, artists and scientists again collaborate more frequently, as promoted most radically by the ArtScience movement. This approach aims at a true synthesis between the intuitive, imaginative methods of art and the rational, rule-governed methods of science. To prepare the grounds for a theoretical synthesis, this paper surveys the fundamental commonalities and differences (...) between science and art. Science and art are united in their creative investigation, where coherence, pattern or meaning play a vital role in the development of concepts, while relying on concrete representations to experiment with the resulting insights. On the other hand, according to the standard conception, science seeks an understanding that is universal, objective and unambiguous, while art focuses on unique, subjective and open-ended experiences. Both offer prospect and coherence, mystery and complexity, albeit with science preferring the former and art, the latter. The paper concludes with some examples of artscience works that combine all these aspects. (shrink)

As one of 21st century key skills, self-leadership is not only the internal factor of private college undergraduates’ independent development, but also related to the quality improvement of talent cultivation of private undergraduate colleges. It is proved that mindfulness or metacognition separately has the predictive effect on self-leadership, but their structural relationships has not been revealed. The present study explored the interrelations between mindful agency, metacognitive ability, and self-leadership through the mediation analysis with structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping was conducted (...) to test the mediating effect. The sample comprised 1,244 private undergraduate sophomore, and they completed online questionnaires of mindful agency, metacognitive ability, and self-leadership. The results revealed that mindful agency of private undergraduate students not only directly and positively predicted self-leadership, but also indirectly and positively predicted self-leadership through the mediating effect of metacognitive ability. Metacognitive ability partially mediated the relationship between mindful agency and self-leadership. The direct effect of mindful agency and the mediating effect of metacognitive ability, respectively, account for 86.9% and 13.1% of the total effect. The results suggest that the more mindful private college undergraduates are, the more willing they are to practise their metacognitive skills in their learning, and the more progress in self-leadership they make. Educational implications for mindfulness training and metacognition practice to foster their self-leadership are discussed. (shrink)

El estudio de la experiencia mística se ha hecho desde diversos campos del conocimiento humano. Sin embargo, se ha considerado que un estudio que involucre la ciencia y la mística sólo podría conducir a una visión desacralizada de esta experiencia. Pero esta postura refleja más bien un desconocimiento en el cambio de paradigma que ha tenido la ciencia desde inicios del siglo XX. El propósito de este artículo es contextualizar este diálogo entre ciencia y mística a partir de una postura (...) naturalizada que permita comprender la experiencia mística en su dimensión biológica, al estudiar el rasgo singularísimo de la pasividad mística, justamente, desde este enfoque naturalizado. (shrink)

This essay aims to analyse the Parmenides’ interpretation that Laura Gemelli Marciano offered in the Eleatica lectures. The scholar represents the Parmenidean Poem as a mystical experience where sounds, words and images communicate and produce a real approach to the divine reality at the same time. This intriguing reading, which closely follows that offered by Kingsley, understimates the problems and cognitive structures of rational thought in the poem. Thus Parmenides appears to be a shaman rather a philosopher.

2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title The purpose of this book is to fill a gap in contemporary mystical studies: an overview of the basic ways to approach mystical experiences and mysticism. It discusses the problem of definitions of “mystical experiences” and “mysticism” and advances characterizations of “mystical experiences” in terms of certain altered states of consciousness and “mysticism” in terms of encompassing ways of life centered on such experiences and states. Types of mystical experiences, enlightened states, paths, and doctrines are (...) discussed, as is the relation of mystical experiences and mysticism to religions and cultures. The approaches of constructivism, contextualism, essentialism, and perennialism are presented. Themes in the history of the world’s major mystical traditions are set forth. Approaches to mystical phenomena in sociology, psychology, gender studies, and neuroscience are introduced. Basic philosophical issues related to whether mystical experiences are veridical and mystical claims valid, mystics’ problems of language, art, and morality are laid out. Older and newer comparative approaches in religious studies and in Christian theology are discussed, along with postmodernist objections. The intended audience is undergraduates and the general public interested in the general issues related to mysticism. (shrink)