The Psychology of Meditation: Research and Practice
Contents
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What is the origin of human angst? Why is ease not a natural condition of everyday life? Why should we even need something like meditation? What is the origin of human angst? Why is ease not a natural condition of everyday life? Why should we even need something like meditation?
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The formative role of evolutionary pressures in everyday attending The formative role of evolutionary pressures in everyday attending
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The affective downside of these default attending processes The affective downside of these default attending processes
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Recognizing these threat-based themes in everyday angst Recognizing these threat-based themes in everyday angst
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Meditation practices cultivate mindfulness of this dilemma Meditation practices cultivate mindfulness of this dilemma
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Clarifying the terms “meditation” and “practice” Clarifying the terms “meditation” and “practice”
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Meditation as “practicing my jump-shot to get better at it during a real game” Meditation as “practicing my jump-shot to get better at it during a real game”
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Why these angst-inducing patterns of attending are not ordinarily apparent to us Why these angst-inducing patterns of attending are not ordinarily apparent to us
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Practitioners use meditation to suit their individual purposes and interests Practitioners use meditation to suit their individual purposes and interests
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Meditation practice in the second sense Meditation practice in the second sense
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The qualities of presence The qualities of presence
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The yin and the yang of it The yin and the yang of it
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Meditation occurs within a broader social and political landscape Meditation occurs within a broader social and political landscape
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The principles of practice are straightforward even as the world is not The principles of practice are straightforward even as the world is not
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4 Fish discovering water: Meditation as a process of recognition
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Published:January 2016
Cite
Carmody, James,
'Fish discovering water: Meditation as a process of recognition'
,in Michael A. West (ed.)
,The Psychology of Meditation: Research and Practice
(2016;
online edn,
Oxford Academic
, 1 Mar. 2016
), https://doi.org/10.1093/med:psych/9780199688906.003.0004,accessed 14 Jan. 2023.
Abstract
The momentary processes creating our experience of the world are adaptive but have an affective downside in everyday life. These processes of attending form implicitly as part of development. This means that even as they are shaping the valence of our lives, they remain invisible in the way water is invisible to fish. By bringing a curious attention to these default habits, meditation facilitates their experiential recognition. This occurs through psychological principles that are described using culturally familiar constructs rather than traditional and dharma-related language and assumptions. Explaining it in this way highlights the commonality of these principles across mind-body programs and therapeutic modalities and facilitates explanations to patients as to why something like meditation may be useful. The chapter also discusses misunderstandings in the terms “meditation” and “practice,” and suggests we examine the cultural and political values that may be embedded in meditation as it develops in the West.
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