The roles and impacts of worldviews in the context of meditation-related challenges

Abstract

Previous research has shown that worldviews can serve as a coping response to periods of difficulty or struggle, and worldviews can also change on account of difficulty. This paper investigates the impacts worldviews have on the nature and trajectory of meditation-related challenges, as well as how worldviews change or are impacted by such challenges. The context of meditation-related challenges provided by data from the Varieties of Contemplative Experience research project offers a unique insight into the dynamics between worldviews and meditation. Buddhist meditation practitioners and meditation experts interviewed for the study report how, for some, worldviews can serve as a risk factor impacting the onset and trajectory of meditation-related challenges, while, for others, worldviews (e.g., being given a worldview, applying a worldview, or changing a worldview) were reported as a remedy for mitigating challenging experiences and/or their associated distress. Buddhist meditation practitioners and teachers in the contemporary West are also situated in a cultural context in which religious and scientific worldviews and explanatory frameworks are dually available. Furthermore, the context of “Buddhist modernism” has also promoted a unique configuration in which the theory and practice of Buddhism is presented as being closely compatible with science. We identify and discuss the various impacts that religious and scientific worldviews have on meditation practitioners and meditation teachers who navigate periods of challenge associated with the practice.

Altered states of consciousness caused by a mindfulness-based programme up to a year later: Results from a randomised controlled trial

“…It is known that experiences can be interpreted as pleasant or unpleasant depending on the context, so it is key that they are anticipated and managed well [ 33 , 68 , 69 ]. There may well be cultural differences that influence ASC intensity and how they impact individuals’ wellbeing, for example, different relationships with mystical experiences.…”

“…Several psychometric scales have been developed to quantify the different aspects of ASCs [ 29 – 32 ]. There is a dearth of research investigating the effects of ASCs on physical and mental health, but existing data, mostly of a cross-sectional or qualitative nature, suggests that their effects on mental health and wellbeing depend heavily on the nature of the ASC, the context of the event, how much the ASC is expected, how it is dealt with, any external support available, and the meaning that the ASC has to the individual experiencing it [ 33 – 35 ]. Furthermore, not everyone ascribes the same emotional valence (pleasant or unpleasant) to the same ASCs [ 31 , 32 ].…”

Importance of Integrating Spiritual, Existential, Religious, and Theological Components in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies

“…55 Because existential worldviews are an important coping resource, struggles related to worldviews can constitute a double challenge comprising initial distress 56 coupled with reduction in the coping resources that would otherwise help manage the distress. 57 For this reason, it is important to ensure that SERT-relevant concerns are addressed as part of safety considerations, including ensuring that patients have support in making sense of worldview-related struggles. Relatedly, it is important to recognize that while psychedelics may independently affect patient worldviews, respect for patients' autonomy and dignity requires that clinicians take patients' intentions and commitments seriously during PAT.…”

“…Experiences that impact global worldviews, such as PAT, can contribute to challenges if they are difficult to reconcile with existing worldviews and may require specialized support for integration . Because existential worldviews are an important coping resource, struggles related to worldviews can constitute a double challenge comprising initial distress coupled with reduction in the coping resources that would otherwise help manage the distress . For this reason, it is important to ensure that SERT-relevant concerns are addressed as part of safety considerations, including ensuring that patients have support in making sense of worldview-related struggles.…”

“I Can’t Do All This—This Is Nuts!”: An Ethnographic Account of the Challenges Posed by Vajrayāna Deity Yoga in a Western Context

“…Recently, there has been an increase in qualitative studies that examine the experiences of Western practitioners of meditation, as exemplified by Lindahl et al (2014) and Cooper et al (2021), with a special emphasis on what has been termed "meditation-related challenges" (see Lindahl 2017;Lindahl et al 2017Lindahl et al , 2019Lindahl et al , 2020Lindahl et al , 2022Palitsky et al 2023;and Schlosser et al 2019), which refers to experiences that practitioners attribute specifically to their practice and describe as being "[ . .…”