The Contemplative Sciences Center research team has received a grant to investigate nondual awareness as part of The Consciousness Foundation's “Toward a Science of Awakening" project. This project investigates a fundamental but largely unexplored question in cognitive science: can the impacts of the recognition of nondual awareness, which is described in contemplative traditions as a mode of experience without a clear separation between self and world, be measured objectively using neuroscience methods? The CSC team are members of the first cohort for this award.

This grant works differently from the usual “hub and spoke” model, where a funding organization gives out money and collects progress reports. Instead, the foundation added a layer of collaboration based on the science of how research itself works best. To receive the funding, awardees agreed to share their data and results with each other during regular meetings over the project period.

Learn more about the study: “Neurophenomenology of Nondual Meditation: Neural and Experiential Markers of Temporal Awareness, Self, and Emotion.”