Shikantaza - erfarenheter av flow och rent medvetande i en zenbuddhistisk kontext (Shikantaza - experiences of flow and pure consciousness in a zen buddhist context) The zen buddhist meditation practice of Shikantaza (just sitting) is the core practice of the japanese soto-zen tradition. It is described as one of the simplest yet most subitle forms of meditation but also one of the most easily misunderstood. In this study the experience of Shikantaza meditation is investigated from a psychological point of view. Six in depth interviews are analysed with support from the theoretical framework provided by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Robert Forman. The result of the study suggests that the core experience of Shikantaza zazen can be identified as a pure consciousness event and that this experience, with continuous practice, can become permanent and brought in to the daily life of the practitioner. The study also shows that this experience, when it has become a part of the ordinary life, helps the practitioner to cultivate autotelic personality traits and as a result of this he or she can appreciate and enjoy the simple and small things in life.

Recent research has indicated a causal link between oxytocin and spirituality. The present experiment sought to examine the effects of intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) and absorption on mysticism and spirituality in a sensory deprivation setting. The results failed to find any main effects of IN-OT on mysticism, or on spirituality. Interaction effects were discovered however, where IN-OT interacted with absorption both on mysticism and spirituality. More specifically IN-OT undermined the association between absorption and outcomes that were observed in the placebo control condition. The results contradict the findings from the only previous experiment conducted on IN-OT and spirituality. The interaction effects align with previous research on IN-OT, suggesting an increase in suggestibility among low absorption scorers. These results motivate further research on the relation between oxytocin, absorption and spirituality, keeping the idea of suggestibility in mind.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:39:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Denise de Assis.pdf: 722962 bytes, checksum: 9a11e6a17f4fc023059bbb171b6afffd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-07 / In the beginning of his career, in the late 19th century, Freud tried to establish a theory based on Physics in an attempt to explain hysteria. However, as he discovered the issues related to the unconscious, he abandoned the idea and founded Psychoanalysis in the beginning of the 20th century, with his work The Interpretation of Dreams. Throughout the 20th century, the object of study of Physics grew from the laws relating the matter to mental processes. Using the Lacanian reading and the reflection under the new concepts of Physics in relation to mental processes, this work tries to establish a dialogue between Psychoanalysis and Physics, with the purpose of developing a way to understand the mystical experiences as distinct from the psychotic phenomena / Freud, no início de sua carreira (fim do século XIX), tentou fundamentar uma teoria baseada na Física com o objetivo de explicar o fenômeno da histeria. No entanto, ao descobrir as questões relacionadas ao inconsciente, abandonou esta ideia e inaugurou a Psicanálise no início do século XX, com a obra A Interpretação dos Sonhos. No decorrer do século XX, o objeto de estudo da Física se ampliou das leis que regem a matéria aos processos mentais. A partir da leitura lacaniana e de uma reflexão sob os novos conceitos da Física a respeito dos processos mentais, este trabalho procura estabelecer um diálogo entre a Psicanálise e a Física com vistas a desenvolver um modo de compreender as experiências místicas como distintas dos fenômenos psicóticos