Building upon a previously proposed model of comparative mysticism (Trivedi, 2024) this work proposes a newer method called nesting or the nesting method (NM). In recent work, I proposed a model of comparative mysticism that based its rationale for comparison in the dynamic interaction between three components: neurocognitive mechanisms and substrates, phenomenal experiences, and noetic accounts. While examining the phenomenon of ego-dissolution (EDn), I identified universal and contextual components of the ego-dissolution experiences of the contemporary Indian mystic Sadhguru (1957–Present) and the medieval Spanish mystic Teresa of Ávila (1515–1583), respectively. In the neurocognitive component I drew from neuroscientific studies including brain injury, psychedelics (psilocybin and LSD), and meditative practices. In the phenomenal and noetic components, I extracted personal accounts as narrated by the mystics themselves. Having identified these three components, nesting, as a further developed method, argues for a non-ontologically reductive, yet epistemologically reductive series of levels, beginning from the neuroscientific and neurocognitive to the theological and religious. In examining a mystic's ego-dissolution experience, this method allows for multiple layers of analysis that prevent careless reductions such as disciplinary leaps that deem religious experiences as "just" neural activity. I aim to present several accounts of Indian, Hindu mystics within the frameworks of Advaita Vedānta, Kāśmīrī Śaivism, and others, experiencing what is deemed as non-dual, ego-dissolution at multiple levels (neuroscience, phenomenology, theology, sociology, etc.), that encourage interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary theories and methodologies. The former levels are "nested" within the latter levels, proposing a step-by-step dynamic interaction that presents the EDn experience as ultimately, holistic. Within the experience, how do multiple disciplines account for the mystic's experience and furthermore, how does a mystic's experience inform his/her theology, and vice versa? In my presentation of this topic which engages both the fields of Cognitive Science of Religion and Religious Studies, I aim to answer these questions.
References
Trivedi, H. P. (2024). A Comparative Model of Mysticism: Cognitive Neuroscience, Phenomenal Experiences, and Noetic Accounts. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00846724241265870
Building upon a previously proposed model of comparative mysticism (Trivedi, 2024), this work proposes a newer method called nesting or the nesting method (NM). In recent work, I proposed a model of comparative mysticism that based its rationale for comparison in the dynamic interaction between three components: neurocognitive mechanisms and substrates, phenomenal experiences, and noetic accounts. While examining the phenomenon of ego-dissolution (EDn), I identified universal and contextual components of the ego-dissolution experiences of the contemporary Indian mystic Sadhguru (1957–Present) and the medieval Spanish mystic Teresa of Ávila (1515–1583), respectively. In nesting, I aim to present several accounts of Indian, Hindu mystics (Advaita Vedānta, Kāśmīrī Śaivism, etc.) experiencing what is deemed as non-dual, ego-dissolution at multiple levels (neuroscience, phenomenology, theology, sociology, etc.), that encourage interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary theories and methodologies. The former levels are "nested" within the latter levels, proposing a step-by-step dynamic interaction that presents the EDn experience as ultimately, holistic.