Spirituality Studies 11-2 Fall 2025 1 EDITORIAL Editorial One way to describe the central spiritual process of self-transcendence is through the metaphor of a transition in awareness from objects to awareness itself. In this way, awareness is “uncovered” (Gr. alḗtheia) as the very Self – as bare Consciousness. Although awareness is always present in every human cognition or experience, it becomes obscured when distracted by objects. This distraction often results in the identification of awareness with objects, enigmatically expressed by the Latin term existentia – ex, “out of”, and sta, “to stand” – meaning “to stand out of oneself”. Suffering from self-alienation arises by “standing outside of oneself” and brings about anxiety, the first of various consequent emotions that emerge from this fundamental loss of completeness – the deprivation of oneness in division. Insofar as human existence is this “alienation of being”, as Martin Heidegger puts it, spirituality can be defined as an action that transcends the fundamental self-alienation by redirecting the flow of awareness away from objects and consequent immersion in them. This action is complex. It begins by turning awareness away from objects and ends by returning it to them because nothing can be excluded from the field of awareness. Ultimately, however, objects no longer appear as separate entities, but rather as phenomena that are not independent from their background – the infinite, spacious Consciousness. Self-transcendence is then like a bolt that makes all this possible. Initially, the attraction to objects is so powerful that turning awareness to itself is nearly impossible without prior preparation. One of the most prominent preparatory actions is mindfulness (Sa. smṛti, Pa. sati). The crucial spiritual process of awakening awareness through mindful actions is also the main topic of several studies in the current issue of Spirituality Studies. These studies may inspire us intellectually and practically as we strive to study spirituality and awaken as bare Consciousness. Dear readers, I invite you to explore this topic and others in the Fall 2025 edition of Spirituality Studies and be inspired by the featured authors’ insights. Cordially Martin Dojčár
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