Two Approaches to the Study of Meditation

Abstract

This paper discusses methodological issues in studying meditation. Meditation is viewed as a spiritual practice, rooted in culture and associated with a specific religious context, yet grounded in objective psychophysical processes. This status of the practice confronts researchers with the following difficulties. The natural-scientific approach, represented primarily by neurophysiological research, focuses on an objective description of meditation as a natural phenomenon. However, this approach loses the phenomenological dimension of meditative experience, associated with the meanings and values with which the practitioner ascribes it. In other words, how this experience is subjectively experienced is overlooked. Since meditation involves conscious experience, phenomenological aspects must be considered in its description. A cultural studies approach can contribute to this, aiming to consider the meanings and significance ascribed to meditative practice within culture. However, the cultural studies approach faces the challenge of constructivism, according to which meditative practice is inseparable from the cultural context in which it exists. This view proves to be an obstacle to an objective examination of meditation and to comparative studies of its existence across cultures. Thus, the challenge in studying meditation is the need to combine an objective examination of this practice as a natural phenomenon with cultural studies that allow for consideration of the contentful aspect of meditative experience. This article discusses the perspectives of some participants in the “Cultural History of Meditation” project. It briefly reconstructs the history of the natural science study of meditation, noting the role of psychotherapy in this research. The difficulties currently facing scientists in studying this phenomenon are identified. The problems of the cultural history of meditation and how to overcome the challenge of constructivism are discussed. In conclusion, a brief solution to the identified methodological problem in meditation research is presented.