Mari Skrede

The Art of Observing, Accepting and Letting Go: a Qualitative Study of Long-term Meditators -exploring the Meditative Process and Its Subjectiveeffects on Daily Life Mari Skrede

Meditation is an ancient practice used to transformconsciousness by altering attention, and it hasgained ground in the western world during the lastcentury. This book explores and describes meditationand its subjective consequences from the viewpoint ofsix long-term meditators. These consequences arehypothesized to be the outcome of the dissolution ofthe constructed and conditioned self. From observing,accepting and letting go of earlier conditioning anew awareness arises in the meditator who nowconceives the world and existence from an expandedpoint of view, devoid of the notion of duality. Theanalysis of the qualitative interviews in relation todifferent theoretical perspectives on the self showsthat the most essential effect of meditation is theincreased flexibility of behaviour, emotions andthoughts, in addition to spiritual harmony. Theseeffects can be considered a result of thetransformation of the self, facilitated by meditativepractice. This study should be interesting for anyonefascinated by meditation, psychology andalternative views of the human self and existence.