The roles of constitutive contexts in contemplative practice

The purpose of this proposal is to integrate the perspectives of religious studies and clinical psychology/science to address the central question of the roles of contexts in contemplative practice. There is a gulf between humanists and scientists on the issue of context, and this is a central challenge to the field of Contemplative Sciences. Our proposal addresses this through a humanist and psychologist collaborating on a scholarly review and analysis of the research literature and contemplative traditions on contemplation and constitutive contexts. Our approach involves reviewing traditional contemplative traditions, associated humanistic research, and scientific studies on such traditions. We will be exploring this core question from an interdisciplinary context, creatively raising new questions, offering fruitful areas for future research, and suggesting practical methods by which humanists and scientists can better collaborate on contemplative studies in relationship to context.