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Document Details : Title: Mind Wandering in Science, Contemplative Traditions, and Modern Meditation Author(s): EIFRING, Halvor Journal: Studies in Spirituality Volume: 34 Date: 2025 Pages: 151-180 DOI: 10.2143/SIS.34.0.3294893 Abstract : Neuroscientific discoveries of the twenty-first century have sparked a strong popular and scientific interest in the mind’s tendency to spontaneously wander away from the task at hand. On the surface, this interest resembles the concern with mind wandering that has been typical of contemplative traditions across the Eurasian continent for more than two thousand years. However, this article argues that traditional contemplative views of mind wandering differ sharply from those of modern scientific and popular discourse. The article also looks into the different strategies contemplative traditions employ in their encounter with mind wandering, ranging from fierce suppression to openness to the unexpected. Finally, the article explores how modern meditation movements straddle the contrast between modern scientific/popular and traditional contemplative approaches, usually by seeking this-worldly goals such as stress reduction but occasionally relating to an intuitive dimension beyond thought, feelings, and the senses. |
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