Mi'sen

"The most important feature of this approach, for our purposes here, is that experience is not seen as an epiphenomenal side issue, but is considered central to any adequate understanding of the mind, and accordingly needs to be investigated in a careful phenomenological manner."

"Phenomenology and experimental cognitive science are thus seen as complementary and mutually informing modes of investigation. NP builds on this view with the specific aim of understanding the nature of consciousness and subjectivity and their relation to the brain and body."

"On the one hand, it stands to reason that people vary in their abilities as observers and reporters of their own mental lives, and that these abilities can be enhanced through mental training of attention, emotion, and metacognition."

"Contemplative practice is a vehicle for precisely this sort of cognitive and emotional training. On the other hand, it stands to reason that mental training should be reflected in changes to brain structure, function, and dynamics."

"Hence, contemplative practice could become a research tool for developing better phenomenologies of subjective experience and for investigating the neural correlates of consciousness."

"Were such research to prove fruitful, adept contemplatives could become a new kind of scientific collaborator, rather than simply a new type of experimental participant, for their first-person expertise would be directly mobilized within scientific research on the mind."