Spirituality Studies 1 EDITORIAL Editorial The mind creates an illusory world that the ancient philosopher Plato referred to as the realm of “shadows”. We have grown so accustomed to these “thought shadows” that we mistakenly regard consciousness incarnated in thoughts as our natural state and identity. In this state, we recognize consciousness only in its incarnated form as intentional consciousness, while overlooking consciousness-in-itself. As a result, the recognition of our authentic identity, derived from non-intentional consciousness, remains obscured. When Greek philosophers used the term alḗtheia to express “truth”, they were referring to the annihilation of this obscurity – the unveiling of non-intentional consciousness as the principal condition of the possibility of every mental activity and the source of one’s authentic identity. One of the traditional terms used to describe practices that unveil non-intentional consciousness is “philosophy”. However, the more common term for these practices is “spirituality”. Spirituality is based on a shift in consciousness from intentional to non-intentional. For this practice to be successful, certain prerequisites must be met. The primary one is “calming” the mind. A restless mind indicates a lack of peace and/or happiness. Therefore, a certain degree of preliminary experiences of peace and/ or happiness is necessary to reduce mental fluctuations. Psychologically it is obvious that when desirable mental states such as love, goodwill, or joyfulness are cultivated, the mind experiences moments of peace and/or happiness and becomes tranquil. In this manner, one spontaneously becomes present by maintaining presence of consciousness with these states within the body, without any further special effort, solely through their power of attraction. This underscores the spiritual importance of moral education in the above sense. Without this kind of moral preparation, the subsequent phases of spiritual practice based on developing concentration and contemplation, cannot be fully accessed. This edition of Spirituality Studies explores some of these prerequisites, including traditional Buddhist mindfulness practices, contemporary yoga teachings of āsana, Jain yoga practices of dhāraṇā, Orthodox Christian hēsychasm traditions of repetitive prayer, and dhikr in Ṣūfism. Dear readers, I invite you to explore these topics in the Spring 2026 edition of Spirituality Studies and be inspired by the insights of our highly qualified authors. Cordially Martin Dojčár
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