Consciousness, self-consciousness, and meditation

Wolfgang Fasching

pp. 463-483

Many spiritual traditions employ certain mental techniques (meditation) which consist in inhibiting mental activity whilst nonetheless remaining fully conscious, which is supposed to lead to a realisation of one's own true nature prior to habitual self-substantialisation. In this paper I propose that this practice can be understood as a special means of becoming aware of consciousness itself as such. To explain this claim I conduct some phenomenologically oriented considerations about the nature of consciousness qua presence and the problem of self-presence of this presence.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/s11097-008-9090-6

Full citation:

Fasching, W. (2008). Consciousness, self-consciousness, and meditation. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 7 (4), pp. 463-483.

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