| Interest in the Buddhist underpinnings, clinical efficacy and neuropsychological mechanisms of mindfulness meditation has increased exponentially in the last three decades. Scholars in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, religious studies and philosophy, among many others, are increasingly interested in addressing these questions from their respective disciplines. This dissertation seeks to further our understanding of how mindfulness meditation modulates the self and subjectivity, approaching the topic from an inter- and multi-disciplinary perspective that relies, in part, on all of the above lines of inquiry. First, we work toward a novel formulation of the narrative self that will facilitate discussion on how mindfulness interacts with and regulates the self. Second, looking specifically at Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), we defend the claim that mindfulness exerts its beneficial effects by dereifying the narrative self. Next, we consider the ways in which Buddhist notions of no-self, as well as modernity, inform the self/no-self dynamic within primary MBSR texts. In the conclusion, we address the ways in which this study can contribute to future research in the fields of clinical medicine, neuroscience and philosophy.;Keywords: mindfulness, meditation, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Buddhism, self, selfhood, no-self, narrative self, philosophy of mind, simulation. |
