Holding on to Existence: Self-Models, Mortality Denial, and the Phenomenology of Meditative Self-Dissolution

Explore a 23-minute conference talk from the Models of Consciousness Conferences examining the relationship between self-models, mortality awareness, and meditative practices. Delve into research findings that demonstrate how human predictive capabilities, while evolutionarily advantageous, can generate existential anxiety when confronting mortality. Learn about neurophysiological studies using visual mismatch-response paradigms that reveal how the brain processes death-related stimuli, and discover the differences in death-denial mechanisms between meditators, ayahuasca users, and control groups. Examine the neurophenomenological evidence linking meditative self-world boundary dissolution experiences to computational equanimity regarding death acceptance. Understand how training in non-existence through meditation practices may be essential for developing a predictive horizon that encompasses mortality awareness, potentially leading to a deeper understanding of pure awareness through the down-regulation of minimal self-modeling.