# brain: meditative absorption shifts brain dynamics toward criticality.

<< ️Criticality describes a regime between order and chaos that supports flexible yet stable information processing. Here (AA) examine whether neural dynamics can be volitionally shifted toward criticality through the self-regulation of attention. >>

<< (They) examined ten experienced practitioners of meditation during a 10-day retreat, comparing refined states of meditative absorption, called the jhanas, to regular mindfulness of breathing. (They) collected electroencephalography (EEG) and physiological data during these practices and quantified the signal's dynamical properties using Lempel-Ziv complexity, signal entropy, chaoticity and long-range temporal correlations. In addition, (They) estimated perturbational sensitivity using a global auditory oddball mismatch negativity (MMN) during meditation. >>

<< ️Relative to mindfulness, jhana was associated with pronounced self-reported sensory fading, slower respiration, higher neural signal diversity across multiple measures, reduced chaoticity, and enhanced MMN amplitude over frontocentral sites. Spectral analyses showed a flatter aperiodic one over f component and a frequency-specific reorganization of long-range temporal correlations. Together, increased diversity with reduced chaoticity and heightened deviance detection indicate a shift toward a metastable, near-critical regime during jhana. >>

<< ️(AA) propose an overlap of the phenomenology of jhana with minimal phenomenal experiences in terms of progressive attenuation of sensory content with preserved tonic alertness. Accordingly, (Their) findings suggest that criticality is a candidate neurophysiological marker of the absorptive, minimal-content dimension of the minimal phenomenal experience. >>

Jonas Mago, Joshua Brahinsky, Mark Miller, et al. Meditative absorption shifts brain dynamics toward criticality. arXiv: 2511.20990v1 [q-bio.NC]. Nov 26, 2025.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.20990

Also: brain, Zen, transition, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, brain, Zen, criticality, transitions, meditation, meditative absorption, jhanas, breathing mindfulness.

# brain: exploring aperiodic, complexity and entropic brain changes during non-ordinary states of consciousness.

<< ️Non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOC) provide an opportunity to experience highly intense, unique, and perceptually rich subjective states. The neural mechanisms supporting these experiences remain poorly understood. >>

<< ️This (AA) study examined brain activity associated with a self-induced, substance-free NOC known as Auto-Induced Cognitive Trance (AICT). Twenty-seven trained participants underwent high-density electroencephalography (EEG) recordings during rest and AICT. (They) analyzed the aperiodic component of the power spectrum (1/f), Lempel-Ziv complexity, and sample entropy from five-minute signal segments. A machine learning approach was used to classify rest and AICT, identify discriminative features, and localize their sources. >>

<< ️(AA) also compared EEG metrics across conditions and assessed whether baseline activity predicted the magnitude of change during AICT. Classification analyses revealed condition-specific differences in spectral exponents, complexity, and entropy. The aperiodic component showed the strongest discriminative power, followed by entropy and complexity. Source localization highlighted frontal regions, the posterior cingulate cortex, and the left parietal cortex as key contributors to the AICT state. Baseline neural activity in frontal and parietal regions predicted individual variability in the transition from rest to AICT. >>

<< ️These findings indicate that AICT engages brain regions implicated in rich subjective experiences and provide mechanistic insights into how self-induced trance states influence neural functioning. >>

Victor Oswald, Karim Jerbi, et al. Exploring aperiodic, complexity and entropic brain changes during non-ordinary states of consciousness. arXiv: 2509.19254v1 [q-bio.NC]. Sep 23, 2025.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.19254 

Also: brain, Zen, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: brain, consciousness, auto-Induced cognitive trance (AICT), Zen.

# life: the pervasive "soft power" of ancient India.

<< One of the big contentions of popular historian William Dalrymple’s latest book “The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World,” which came out in the United States a few weeks ago, is that the Indian subcontinent’s connections to the West, especially via the Roman Empire, were far richer than those of China (i.e. the “Silk Road” cited). Once the might of Rome reached Egypt and the maritime routes of the Red Sea, it brought the customers of the Mediterranean to India’s doorstep. It also saw Indian philosophy and mathematics travel west and east. >>

<< Once their economic links to the West thinned with the collapse of the Roman Empire, South Indian merchant guilds turned east, embarking on trade and contacts that spread Indian religion and ideas across a wide expanse of Asia and underlay the grandeur of centuries-old temple complexes like Angkor Wat in Cambodia or Borubudur in Indonesia. >>

<< it’s one of the great soft power miracles of world history, because unlike Islam and unlike quite a lot of Christianity, no one took Buddhism at the point of a sword. No one imposed Buddhism at any point. It was the sophistication of its ideas and particularly its attractiveness to the merchant classes, bizarrely. The Buddhist monasteries act as banks, as factories and as caravanserais. >>

Ishaan Tharoor with Rachel Pannett. How ancient India changed the world. WorldView (by mail). washingtonpost.com. May 19, 2025.

https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=660de34bb906a33aae6b8103&s=682aadf6f062960b82a2f3e6

Also:  forms of power, waves, attractor, Zen, compassion, transition, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: life, forms of power, soft power, waves, attractors, Zen, compassion, transition.